Flights of Fancy
by midori Haru
Summary: Judgment.  As a lord Sesshoumaru must make snap decisions of the people he encounters in order to assess a situation and decide on a course of action.  Misjudgment is the cause of much strife.  Luckily in this one case, he was the one to suffer the most…
1. Lost in a Crowd

Welcome to my latest fanfiction. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Yet again it's something completely different and the premis is a bit less cannon that Chronicles was. It is still cannon, technically, but...well you'll see.

I would also like to say that some of the youkai mating and other particulars about youkai I established in my other fics are not the same in this one. I like to think in multifaceted pathways. I change something small or something large and see how it works out. It is a minor change that makes such big difference in this fic, but you'll only really get to see it later. I'm so evil. other than the theories on Youkai mating being slightly different and a theory based on the one Inuyasha episode where they supposedly rescued a god (this comes up later) not much has changed in my youkai. Don't worry, you'll enjoy it.

For those of you unfamiliar with my writing, I will once again state: if there are any issues that arise as to the originality of any of my work, contact me and we can compare notes. I have hard copies of my chapters, dated start and finished as to when I wrote them. If between the two (or three or four, etc.) of us we find that an idea was used elsewhere first, then I will give credit where credit is due. I will not remove it. Fanfiction is based on ideas and characters that are not our own therefore if someone else does the same with our work we should (of course ask permission first if possible) and give credit where credit is due.

that said, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, KAgome, Kouga, Ayame, Jaken, Rin and Shippou are not mine... but everybody else... is all mine!

**Lost in a Crowd**

The expensively dressed man riding in the nearly empty first class section of the plane shifted uncomfortably against the cushioned leather seats. He dragged a hand through his rich, chin-length silver hair; a nervous habit he'd developed in recent years after chopping off the rest of it. He hated to fly.

No, that wasn't entirely accurate. He'd enjoyed flying once, when it was under his own power. He missed the feeling of the wind whipping his much longer hair around his body like some wild heathen's cloak. Not that he had ever been an undisciplined heathen. He had always been quite noble and civilized.

He still was he supposed, though this period's version of noble and civilized was being wealthy and quite strait-laced. He had always been somewhat strait-laced he mused absently though he hadn't been forced to wear such confining clothing like the fashionably cut suits he sported nowadays.

He was a wealthy, well-respected businessman to the general public, but inside, only his legendary control kept him from exposing how fractured and broken he truly was on the inside. His pride fought against letting his splintered psyche drag him down despite the pain it caused him.

He jumped as the flight staff made some noise in the coach area of the plane and let out a pent up breath. He clutched at the padded armrest to keep himself from jumping to his feet and clawing his way through the plush first class cabin to the emergency exit to jump. It wouldn't be seemly.

Besides looking like a crazed lunatic, he would have a hard time explaining how he survived the fall without a scratch. And he would survive it without a scratch. A youkai of his caliber couldn't help but survive it. Hell, he could fly!

The silver-haired man took a deep breath and tried to think of something to sufficiently distract him form the unpleasantness of placing his life in the hands of unknown life forms that could at this very moment be having a party in the cockpit without him knowing.

His mind invariably settled on days long past. Days before his brother and his wench had finished their quest and vanished. The days before his mind had begun to splinter, the days when he was whole.

And as almost always happened, his brain settled on the single night where he had proven himself just as capable of folly as his sire before him.

_She was nervous; he could smell it. She had something to say but didn't know how to put it into words._

_Sesshoumaru had his back to her, patiently waiting for her to speak. He wouldn't goad her into speech anymore than he would coax the words from her. But he would wait, she had earned that much from him in the year she had traveled with him. She had called him out, so he would listen. It did not occur to him that she might have bad news or that she had never had trouble speaking to him before._

_Besides, what could she possibly have to say that would have any meaning to him? She never spoke to him of Rin for he already knew about his ward and she had long ago stopped complaining about his retainer. So what could she have to say?_

_He supposed it might have something to do with her trip home and the gift she'd brought for Rin. She'd never gone to the strange home she appeared to share with Inuyasha's wench before. But as they'd happened to pass through the hanyou's wood, she'd asked if she could stop there and he had waited. Rin would've been heartbroken if they'd left the wench behind. At least, that's what he told himself was the reason they'd stayed and nobody had complained._

_The brief stop had been yesterday._

_Today was when all the weird behavior of hers had begun._

_She'd taken Rin to bathe in a spring and the two had come back a little bit sadder with Rin clutching a bear that was too fuzzy and too small to be a good likeness. It was too cuddly and the bow was demeaning, but from the way the child squeezed it to her, Sesshoumaru decided to ignore it for now._

_Rin had sniffled through half the day and her manner was greatly subdued despite the handful of smiles that had graced her features._

_Odder still was Jaken's behavior after the wench and he had gone to collect edibles for Rin at midday. The toady had watched her the rest of the day just as subdued as the little girl._

_Their sadness reeked something awful and he was quite ready for it to end._

_He supposed, now that she had called him out for this little talk, it was his turn to hear what had upset his charge and retainer earlier. Sesshoumaru was determined not to allow it to effect him. Whatever sad news she had to impart could not touch him. What cared he for this human? (Even if he did suspect her possession of latent youkai blood.)_

_"Sesshoumaru," her soft voice called his name. Her voice always came as a surprise to him, though in later decades he would never be able to recall why. She had called for his attention, but he didn't turn. He never did. She could speak to his back, if speak she must. He wouldn't expend more effort on her. "I've decided to return home. You'll probably never see me again," her voice crawled gently through the firefly-infested night._

_So she was finally giving up? He thought to himself without real consideration. He mentally snorted to himself. She could have saved him all this trouble if she'd just taken his advice from the beginning and given up then. She'd never really had a chance of becoming his mate no matter how accomplished a whore she was. And she had to be a whore._

_Sesshoumaru had never known a woman who wasn't one. All women of his acquaintance were. They would all sell their bodies for his name, a piece of his wealth, to bask in the residual power of his strength. She could certainly be no different, despite her protests otherwise. He was proud that he'd finally taught her not to bother to perpetuate that lie for he would never believe it._

_He was curious to see when Rin would turn bad if she did. That was his on-going experiment, a diversion from the ennui much of his species succumbed to._

_He had been told there were women who wouldn't sell themselves for anything, he hoped Rin would be like that, but so far he had yet to meet one of these fabled women._

_"Sesshoumaru, I – " she'd gotten caught on her words, choking on some strong emotion he couldn't sort from the others in her scent. "AW, fuck me, I'm screwing this-"_

_She'd always had a bad habit for imprecise language and he should've realized in the course of their association that she only swore when her emotions became too much for her to contain. It mattered not to him. What mattered was that he had repeatedly warned her about it. She'd been doing well with keeping it under control since the last time he'd chosen to punish her for it._

_She had declared her disbelief in something she'd been told with sarcasm and ending with "her left foot". He'd kindly shown her that her left foot had nothing to do with the matter by dragging the appendage out from under her setting her painfully on her rump._

_This time she deserved worse. She had asked for it and with profanity too. And since she was already a whore he felt no guilt in his decided course of action._

_Sesshoumaru was a full-grown demon lord and was no young green horn by any stretch of the imagination. He knew how to enter a woman in a way that would bring pleasure or in a way that would seem like punishment. So without preamble and before she could finish her frustrated self-tirade, he had crossed the space between them, shoved aside the flimsy cloth in his way and entered her to the hilt._

_He froze as her fingers convulsively closed around his one arm and opposite shoulder. Her words had erupted into a cough she used to try and stall her cry of pain. Her eyes turned glassy as she fought not to cry and he knew why._

_She hadn't been a whore. She'd been pure and untouched. Perhaps not as innocent as the day was long, but undeniably virtuous and he'd stolen that. He'd ripped it from her in the most painful way he ever could have._

_Why hadn't he believed her when she'd insisted she wasn't a whore? She'd never lied about anything else in all his time with her. She was honest and honorable and she'd deserved better than this._

_Her maidenhead was something he was certain she never would have sold. She'd have given it along with her heart to someone she believed deserved it. She would have given it to someone who would treasure her gift and treasure her and he had destroyed that._

_He'd made her into what he had always believed her to be. He cradled her head to his shoulder ashamed of what he'd done. He would forever damn his arrogance and pride for the damage he'd done to her, but he couldn't undo it. He couldn't remove himself now without causing her more pain._

_No, he couldn't undo the damage he'd done, but Sesshoumaru could make it up to her. It would take more effort to get her to relax and then sail into the pleasure she should have experienced all along, but he supposed he owed it to her. _

_She had saved Rin's life on multiple occasions and even his own once or twice. Surely that had earned her some kindness from him. And even if it hadn't, he found himself wanting to pleasure her._

_He eased up, lessening the pressure that had her pinned to the tree behind her. He kissed her cheek gently and proceeded to make it up to her…_

Sesshoumaru jerked back to the present as a flight attendant asked him if he required any refreshment. He nearly ripped the guy's head off for interrupting the blessed memory. In reality that memory was full of contradictory emotions but they were all true, all real, and he had been whole when he was wrapped safely inside of her.

She had been real then too, not just a phantasm that haunted him every step of his life. He could never leave her behind.

Most days he couldn't remember her name and he cursed himself for not realizing the treasure it was when he'd had the chance to carve it into his heart to never be forgotten. Even on his good days he really had to dig for the rapture that was knowing her name.

For years he'd had to have Rin remind him of the precious name. Then when Rin was gone, he'd taken to badgering Jaken for it. Jaken had refused to answer him about it for decades now.

It was funny how, after all these years, he could still remember vividly how she'd felt, how she'd looked, how she'd smelled, but not how she'd sounded or her name. Sesshoumaru yearned to remember all of her and he suspected one of the splinters of his personality knew it all and was hoarding it from the rest of him.

He knew of at least three such splinters, he called them Id, Ego, and Superego for the sake of convenience and nobody else knew except his most trusted aid, Jaken.

Another Flight attendant came by and asked if he needed anything. He nearly growled and clawed her throat out, as he smelled her keen sexual interest. Sesshoumaru swallowed the urge to disembowel the woman. It wouldn't do to break the youkai code.

The youkai code he'd helped create.

The youkai code that stipulated that all youkai were to encourage the human belief that demons were either extinct or myth. Some had chosen to disregard the code and gotten themselves and some of their fellows killed. Others had chosen to avoid the code by hiding in the wilderness leading to their eventual regression to primitive animals.

Those that lived by the code were often successful business owners.

The code had essentially saved those that lived by it from the true extinction that threatened before its inception. It was one of the first decisions turned into practiced law by the United Youkai Council of which Sesshoumaru was a senior member.

He'd used his council duties to stave off his boredom and further splintering of his mind.

All because of her.

He shook his head and raked his hand through his shortened hair. In the beginning he'd been more than willing to blame everything on the woman. She'd made him want her. She'd made him react, but that was completely false.

She hadn't done anything she hadn't always done. Truth be told he'd always found her attractive, but his prejudices against her apparent species and his firm belief in her lack of honorable character had kept him from acting on it. At least that's what he told himself. Sesshoumaru hated to think he was afraid of being rejected by her, but as he was quite certain he was not longer clinically as sane as he had been, he couldn't really trust his own judgment of the matter.

He hadn't really tried to pin his foolishness on her in centuries. He was the one at fault.

The plane bucked in a bit of turbulence and he dug his claws discreetly into the already much abused armrest. That was another thing he hated about modern flight. He'd never had a problem with turbulence before. A growl began to vibrate behind his teeth and he swallowed.

He needed to be distracted. Now.

_He'd loved her through the night, never once leaving her. He'd brought her pleasure many times and he found himself enjoying his attempts to pleasure her._

_She'd remained silent from the start. It was quite out-of-character for her to be so, though he suspected she was purposely holding herself back for whatever reason. He'd made it his goal to push her past such restraint. In a way, he'd decided his efforts to atone for this greatest of transgressions against her was left unfinished until she awarded him with a shout of passion. Or perhaps he just didn't want it to end._

_Sesshoumaru kissed her lips, sipping of their sweet taste as he began to move again. It was probably too soon, she was just coming down from her last peak and he was most likely quite close to utterly exhausting her completely, but he hadn't yet achieved his goal._

_Her wet skin glistened in the faint light of early dawn and it was the first time he had seen her so clearly all night. She was beautiful and glowing from their combined exertions. Her eyes, what he could see of them, were glazed with passion and fatigue._

_This would be his last chance to earn his redemption, his last chance of the night to repay her for that look in her eyes. That look he was seeing clearly for the very first time. He didn't know what it meant other than the pain he knew she must have derived because of the emotion it represented before now._

_His vision flashed to red briefly as his body shook from over use. He was quite close to collapsing himself, but he would send her to the stars one last time. And he would go with her._

_He cursed his own fatigue as his arm shook; he wanted to drag this out, make it last. Something nagged at him about what she'd said before this had begun. She'd said…_

_She'd said she was leaving and the realization rippled through his body as the meaning finally sank in. She was leaving? Never coming back? The shock settled into his brain. There would be no other chance on any other nights. This really was his LAST chance to make it up to her._

_Another shock rippled through him and his vision flashed again as he realized he didn't want her to leave. She was his pack. His companion, Rin's treasured older sister, Jaken's only friend, and she was leaving. It was strange to realize the truth of the matter. He didn't want her to leave, couldn't bear for her to disappear from his sight._

_As he drove them closer to the edge of sanity, his vision flashed again and again until it completely stuck to the ruby color. He was barely aware as he was granted his reward at the same time his teeth sank into her flesh in a last ditch effort to keep her with him, to make her a major irreplaceable part of himself._

And that was his folly. He shifted against the leather chair. It was well known that mated youkai did terribly apart from each other, especially inus.

The only thing that kept anyone from realizing the danger he was to himself and others was that hardly anyone knew he had marked her. He only hoped she was human enough to be spared the suffering he had endured. He'd brought it down on himself, she hadn't.

She'd only done what she said she would and Sesshoumaru couldn't deny that his rational mind had known all along that she would leave. She had never gone against anything she had said she would do. It was part of what he had admired about her.

He had awoken, alone with the lingering scent of her on his skin and the empty feeling in his soul that let him know she was beyond his reach. He had interrogated Inuyasha as to where she went, but the whelp had steadfastly refused to tell. Then, shortly thereafter, the hanyou and his miko had likewise disappeared and he had nothing to go on.

In his desperation, he'd questioned Rin. Sesshoumaru shook his head at the memory, not really wanting to relive it. It was through his talks with his ward that he'd discovered there was more to the woman than he had bothered to learn.

She was there, living with him for a full year and he hadn't bothered to ascertain her age. He hadn't cared to inquire after her family. He hadn't seen the gift she presented to him with every word she spoke.

Her talks with Rin had never been private and yet he was the one who didn't listen. Jaken had expressed surprise when Rin's answers weren't already known by the lord. Even the toady had paid attention and learned about their companion, but not him. And now that she was gone, Sesshoumaru kicked himself everyday for his negligence.

Through Rin he'd learned that his companion had lost her family just before meeting them. Through Rin he'd learned they were assassinated. Through Rin he'd found out the woman had been forced into hiding for her own safety.

And through what he'd learned he found the explanation for often finding her offering her tears up to the starry sky when she was alone. Through his belated lessons he learned that she was of some standing herself if her family had constituted an assassination. And he discovered that she had been more than worthy of him the whole time.

If only his prejudices hadn't held him back.

Sesshoumaru often wondered what would've happened if he hadn't held back, if he had claimed her at any point before she had decided to leave. Would she have stayed? Would she still be with him now?

He liked to believe she would've stayed. He wanted to believe she wouldn't have had the strength to leave him, but that was his pride talking. The same pride that had cost him her in the first place.

Incidentally, daydreaming about her remaining with him lead to thoughts about what would've happened if she had. Some days he found himself mourning the children they'd never have, and there would have been many. He couldn't imagine being able to resist her in heat. It had been difficult enough when he hadn't already claimed her before, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to afterwards.

Most of all, he liked to believe she would have been happy with him. He liked to pretend she would save her most precious smiles for him. Sesshoumaru liked to imagine how she would have looked watching over little ones with his coloring and her luminous eyes. Or perhaps they would look more like her but with small hints of his features here and there.

Sesshoumaru shifted against the leather and dragged his fingers through his hair again. How pathetic he had become. He used to believe he was strong and invincible. He'd seen himself as completely infallible and in some things he still did. But now he knew there were things he had no knowledge of and no right to judge about. His botched claiming of a woman he could have loved had proven that.

Scratch that, he did love her. He loved her for all the things she had been and all the things she might have been and all the things she was. He'd just fallen too late for it to do any good.

Sesshoumaru gave a self-criticizing mental snort. It was years after that night of his foolishness that he learned what that look in her eyes had been. And again it was Rin who taught him the lesson.

His ward had grown up and found love and her eyes had shone with the same expression. When he had asked her what it was she'd told him it was love. Through the years, he'd seen that look again and again and each time there were only two results that followed after.

Either the woman married happily or lived with what happiness she could find, tainted by a shadow of quiet sadness. Sometimes they didn't even bother to live.

He shook his head and sighed as the saddest thought struck him and was dismissed. Sesshoumaru knew she hadn't gone that last route. He could feel she was alive and out there, somewhere beyond his reach.

On his more generous days he hoped she had found someone else. Youkai matings weren't necessarily permanent, though the pain of separation often made it seem that way. The easiest way to end an unwanted mating was to take another mate. It didn't end the pain, but it greatly lessened it.

But those days were few and centuries in between. At heart he was still the selfish pup his father used to laugh at and he disliked the thought of sharing her, of losing her.

It was sort of the same reason he refused to seek relief from the suffering elsewhere. He wanted her and absolutely no one else would suffice. Even if others wore that special expression for him, only she would receive it from him.

A flight attendant walked swiftly through his section of the plane. There was little reason not to, he was almost the only person riding first class. He doubted anyone had realized that he had been the one that caused that. Normally he would've taken his private jet, but Jaken had suggested riding commercial airlines might make the flight a bit easier.

In a way, he supposed it did. The sound of the other passengers shifting about and breathing helped to cover the sound of the stale air being moved about. The smell of other bodies blocked out the smell of the cleaning product use to clean planes. And it was sort of nice to know that he could take them all down by killing the pilot. He'd much rather drag down a bunch of other people than go alone. Of course he'd probably live through it and they wouldn't.

Commercial flight wasn't too bad, he admitted. The bigger plane certainly didn't bounce around in turbulence quite as much as his little jet. And though the flight staff had interrupted a most sacred memory to him, they'd left him alone for the most part.

Sesshoumaru gazed out the window as the coast came into view. He remembered when this land had been empty of all things except the nomadic natives that had worshipped youkai like gods. Times had changed. The nomadic natives were now all but extinct and no longer so nomadic.

Strangely enough, the youkai community had mourned the loss of those human nomads. They were a good people and had skillfully protected the last wilderness of its size. With them gone, the land had been cut into and divided, maimed and forcefully molded into the heavily populated countries that had claimed it. Many youkai refused to return to this place, preferring to remember it as it had been.

Sesshoumaru had been one such youkai, so what was he doing on a plane bound for the heart of this lost paradise? Jaken had managed to arrange him a meeting with the elusive lord of the Americas.

Nobody knew exactly who the lord was, only that the current reign had begun about fifteen years ago and the ruler was one member of a small group of about 8-10 people that could be possible candidates. No one on the youkai council had ever been able to arrange a meeting of any kind with any of the possible lords.

Until now it seems. Though why him he couldn't fathom. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, trading with the largest single territory of the world would greatly boost the wealth of his own territory. And he was definitely curious, who wouldn't be? It was strange for a youkai of any breed to avoid declaring before the world that they were in charge. He wasn't sure if the new lord was a genius or a fool or a myth, but he had to admit, this lord probably used the best strategy possible given what the rumors said.

According to hearsay, the lord was the last blood relative of the former ruling family in the north. And because all royal families marry into other nearby royal families, this new lord was also related to them of course. Sixteen or Seventeen years ago some bloody fool had assassinated every member of every ruling family in the two continents.

There were two possible outcomes should the last living blood descendent of those families surface. Either the assassin would return to finish the job, or foreign powers would decide this person had ordered the assassinations in order to rise to power. In the case of the second, those foreign powers might try to take out the new lord for severing trading treaties and alliances. In either scenario, safety demands some method to protect the lord's life. By not revealing the lord's identity and using a group that is never all in the same place, but together enough to keep the mystery, it has become nearly impossible to discover the identity from the outside.

But Jaken had assured him he would meet this lord, or at the very least the trip would not be a wasted endeavor. The lackey had even offered to come along and Jaken never went anywhere. The little green youkai discovered the Internet and that was the end of travel.

He supposed it was through Jaken's many contacts on the web that had gotten him this meeting.

Sesshoumaru gripped the armrests tightly, the wood under the padding creaked under the strain. This was the part about flying in these god-awful contraptions that he hated the most, landing.

No wonderful memory would be enough to distract him from this. On the plus side, he no longer became ill during landings, but the nausea was still there and he was certain he would never be rid of it.

He would be glad when they were back on the ground.


	2. A Sea of Words

Such wonderful reviewers I've got. It amazed me how quick of a response I've had to this fic... Which isn't to say this fic has been the most popular so far, but wow!

Just because you people are so awesome, here's chapter 2. It's so much fun finding out what people want to happen next. Even so, this fic is already far past that point...in other words, I've already decided the order of things and as such you get to suffer through it MY WAY! bwahahaha! Seriously, you knew that was going to happen right?

It's so nice to be able to right ANs without having anything to complain about from work. That's because after this Thursday, I no longer work at Wal-mart. That's right, I QUIT! ah, I've never been so happy to quit any place before. Not even when I walked out of that lab I worked at for 6weeks. They never trained me and hollerd at me for things I would've known had I been trained. WAl-mart on the other hand... Well, their training sucks, the people they hire get away with not doing their jobs and the poeple who actually work get screwed over and chewed out for not picking up the slack.

Then gas went up and I couldn't afford to work there any more. So I put in for a transfer to the three stores CLOSER to my house. Nothing happened. so I'm done.

Instead I'm going to go impose on an uncle or two out west. I intend to leave quick after my employment ends but I hope I can keep up a decent posting schedule for you. After all, all I need is a library computer if my own is not hooked to the internet. By posting this, I have made a commitment to you by posting the first chapter of this fic, and as such, I WILL finish it in due time. That I promise.

I have to after all. The one person I've let read all of it in preparation for posting would kill me on your behalf if I didn't!

And as always, Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Jaken, Rin, Kouga, Ayame, and Shippou are not mine. Everyone else who appears...well take a wild guess! heheh.

**A Sea of Words**

Sesshoumaru's trip through the terminal wasn't anything special. No one attacked him or demanded his instant attention so he wandered through the surprisingly small airport to claim his luggage and search for his contact.

The faint scent of several familiar people floated by his nose and he followed it in disbelief. The person that carried all these scents had a great deal of close contact with Inuyasha, his miko wench and _her_. Those three scents couldn't possibly be there, none of them had been seen in five hundred years.

All the scents were coming from the party standing under the homemade sign sporting his current alias. He raised an eyebrow at the strangely clad girl. From the waist up she wore the uniform of a professional chauffeur, even wearing the hat at a jaunty angle. Below that, she wore much-loved painted jeans and hiking boots.

"Maruhama?" she asked with a bright grin. Something about this young girl reminded him of the woman he'd known so long ago, but then, all females did if he liked them even a small amount. If he hated them, they failed to hold any of her characteristics. "How was your trip? It wasn't too bad, was it? Jaken told me you hated to fly, so I suggested trying a commercial airline. Mama says that's a good way to be distracted from the discomfort of flying. It's how she travels even though we do have a private jet of our own." The girl chattered gaily. She led him towards the car he assumed they'd be traveling in. Surprise, it wasn't a limo, but a rather beat up looking Jimmy. She opened the back so he could deposit his luggage before climbing in the car as she started the engine.

The situation was bewildering. Normally, when he visited other lords, he was met with a limo and an escort of guards. This was different and refreshing he supposed. AT least he'd been allowed to open his own door.

It was kind of insulting to have somebody else do it, but it always happened that way.

"My name is Marissa. Remember it, because you'll probably never hear it again. You'll want to call me Rissy as I won't answer to anything else." Marissa continued and he wondered if she ever stopped talking. "Only Mama ever calls me Marissa and that's only when she's really, super mad, which doesn't happen often and sometimes I still don't answer." He pondered how she could go without answering if she never stopped talking; then he wondered if she was old enough to be driving a car. "Whatever you're worrying about, there's no need. The local cops know me and I do have a special license to drive before my birthday, which is coming up soon. I convinced mom to let me get it last year so I could help out with her work by me running the errands while she did her official stuff. I don't know that it actually helped much as she still only sleeps about one night a month, but Trank says it can't be helped, Mother's just that way," Rissy paused to draw in breath and he was stunned that she hadn't turned blue already from lack of oxygen during her long speech. "Though I have noticed Mom ride the horses more often. Steve says that it's mama's version of therapy, whatever that means, because mama doesn't need therapy, just a vacation."

The girl continued to ramble on as they turned off the expressway onto a slightly less busy two-lane highway. By slightly less busy he meant there wasn't a car in sight whereas there had been one just a few meters ahead of them on the last road.

Sesshoumaru cracked the window open thinking Rissy might take the hint and stop talking.

She didn't, she just got louder, but at least he had the scent of the country around them to distract him. They were far enough away from the bustling town that huddled around the airport that the scent of its pollution was overpowered by the smell of damp earth, aging leaves and prairie grass. This country had always had a pleasantly unique scent that no one realized they missed until they returned to it.

He breathed deep and let the nature of it soothe the knots still left in his stomach from the flight and subsequent landing. There were few places in Japan where one could get far enough away from a city to just smell nature. At least it was true for one of his kind anyway. Sesshoumaru allowed his eyes to slide closed as he savored the natural smells of a North American autumn.

Rissy slammed on the breaks throwing him against his seat belt. Sesshoumaru's eyes snapped open as he gripped the bar on his door in alarm. "You shouldn't ignore me," she scolded him primly before rolling down her window to yell at the reason for the abrupt halt. "Rufus, you crazy dog! Get your fuzzy butt on the other side of the road; it's still morning. You're not supposed to switch sides until two!"

He stared at the crazy child yelling at the tired old dog in the road. Did that gray old dog really habitually sleep on different sides of the road depending on the time of day? If it were true, he was surprised the noisy little chatterbox had noticed. He most certainly wouldn't have picked up on the dog's schedule. It was something _she_ would have noticed though.

Rissy dragged her bottle-dark hair behind her ear as she gnawed her lip in thought. He supposed she was trying to decide whether to go around the dog or get out and move him first.

Sesshoumaru didn't care what she did so long as she did it soon. He wanted out of the car and out of hearing-range of Marissa. But at the same time, he was drawn to her. He wanted to be sure she was all right and that no one ever hurt her, but mostly he wanted to find out how she could've had close contact with the scents he could still detect swirling in the car.

"All right Rufus don't move. I'm going around you," the girl called to the seemingly slumbering canine. She started easing the car to the other side of the road when the dog raised its head and got to its feet. She was in the very middle of the road when the dog moved in the way and she jumped on the brakes again. "Darn it all Rufus!" She hollered at the dog. "One of these days I really am going to hit you. Do you know how terrible that would be – for my car? The poor thing is on its last legs as it is and Mom's already told me if I get in an accident of any kind she'd ground me from driving until I'm thirty. So I'll have to hide the evidence and just claim the Jimmy died." She grumbled as she very gently but forcefully moved the dog off the road. "Do you have any idea how I would destroy the evidence?" She asked rhetorically. "I would give your dead body over to Trank to cook up for dinner. And she'd do it too. Meat is meat. And I'd eat you and definitely enjoy it no matter how close to cannibalism it might seem given my inu youkai blood. I might, MIGHT, warn uncle Inu and Beni about it though. I don't have to bring them in on my depravity." She kicked some dirt at the old dog she'd deposited beside the road. "Now you stay there you old nuisance. You are hereby grounded from the road for the rest of the day!"

Rissy scuffed her way back to the car before driving away from the old dog without further mishap. Sesshoumaru watched in the side mirror as the mutt found its place back in the center of the road.

"I really should put the old cur out of his misery, but he's been around for as long as I can remember," the girl began to talk again. "It was mama that first pointed out his schedule to me. I thought it was so cool. Mama teased me, saying it was proof that dogs could tell time. She told me there used to be a dog just like it when she was younger that had the same schedule. I suppose this one learned it from that one." Rissy turned onto some random pothole filled road. This explained the state of the Jimmy. "I once asked why the dog chose to sleep in the road like that. Mama said that sometimes creatures can become so hurt and broken as to just give up and wait for it to end. I think if that's the reason why the dog sleeps in the road it needs to find a new spot. Everybody around here knows about Rufus. He's like a notorious speed bump that everybody watches for subconsciously." She laughed brightly, "Even Uncle Inu and his infamous driving abilities always manages to avoid hitting that dog. It's like magic or something."

The more he heard about her mother, the more anxious he was to meet her. She sounded a great deal like…the woman he loved and it had been so long since such hope had ignited in his chest. He controlled the blaze. He had believed when the feeling of her life had grown stronger thirty-odd years ago that it meant something good, but nothing had come of it.

Besides, if Rissy's mother was the same woman, then the very existence of such a young daughter begged the possibility that he was no longer her mate. His heart clenched at the thought. As much as he disliked the idea of sharing his beloved, he disliked losing her altogether even more. Sesshoumaru would simply have to win her over again. That is, if Marissa's mother was who he believed she might be.

"You sure don't talk much. I mean Jaken warned me that you wouldn't, but I thought he was exaggerating even though Mama told me he wasn't," Rissy continued to talk. "Don't worry, you don't have to talk to me. Mama says I talk enough to carry the entire weight of a conversation. Uncle Inu says I talk more than Aunt K did when she was my age, which according to him is quite a feat. Of course he normally says it to get a rise out of Aunt K, so I can't be sure if he's exaggerating or not." Marissa laughed again. "Beni says they argue all the time and that his classmates all agree that the best parents only argue over the little unimportant things like that."

"What about your parents?" he asked blandly before she could continue.

Rissy glanced at him in surprise before smiling and turning back to the road. "I've only ever had Mama. Oh, I have uncle Inu and Aunt K, and there's Trank and Steve too. Uncle Kouga and Aunt Ayame get thrown into the mix from time to time as well so I can't get too upset about it, but there's only ever been Mama. She's never been married that anyone could tell me. I asked her once if she'd ever been in love." He perked up, this answer he wished to know. "She just smiled real sad-like and changed the subject," Rissy shook her head. "I don't like when Mama looks like that. I wish she would just cry rather than look like that. Trank says Mama can't cry anymore and I think that's even sadder. So I don't ask about it anymore. I don't ask Mama questions that'll make her give me that sad smile. Mama should be happy. She deserves to be happy with all that she's given to everyone else. Even if nobody realizes what she's given them."

Marissa pulled the car up in front of a large country house that bordered on the size of a mansion. She let herself out of the car and went to open up the back for him. She grabbed the smaller piece of his luggage before leading him to the front door.

"Come on in," she told him. "We'll just leave your stuff inside the door here for the time being. I want to make sure everybody knows you're here first. Aunt K! Mom!" Rissy hollered as she headed deeper into the house.

"They're not here," a gruff voice from the depths of Sesshoumaru's memory called back. "Kagome had to pick up Beni and your mom's going to be tied up for the day with your favorite mare. The horse is threatening to drop her foal too early so your mom and Steve are taking care of her while Ayame and stupid Kouga hold down the rest of the fort. Trank's pinning down security like she always does."

"And what are you doing, Uncle?" Rissy giggled at the picture he made with his long hair stained in cherry Kool-aid.

"I'm cleaning up the mess your aunt made," Inuyasha replied, wringing his hair out over the kitchen sink.

"A noble task, indeed," Sesshoumaru couldn't resist commenting, "but did it truly require you use your own hair to mop it up?"

Inuyasha stiffened before turning to the _much_ older inu youkai. "Well, what do you know, you aren't dead. Does your mother know he's here?"

"Not yet," Rissy answered.

"Good, then you can still drive him back to the airport and she'll never be the wiser," the hanyou turned back to his pinkish hair.

"Uncle Inu," Rissy scolded him. "You're being rude."

"How the hell did you convince the icicle to come all the way here anyway?" Inuyasha groaned as a possibility occurred to him. "You didn't tell him he'd meet the lord of the Americas did you? Damnit Rissy, you know better. Nobody meets the lord."

"I didn't tell him that," Rissy huffed defensively as she got her uncle a towel form the rag bin. "It was Jaken's idea."

"The toad's still around too?" Inuyasha wondered aloud.

"He's an imp, not a toad and yes he's still alive. I've been exchanging e-mail with him for the last four years," Rissy informed him. "Mama knew about it."

"And nothing's ever come of it until now?"

"It took me three and a half years to convince Jaken I was who I said I was," Rissy shrugged.

"Jaken is one thing, but Sesshoumaru is entirely different," Inuyasha said while wrapping his pink hair in the old towel like a turban. "What, were you chatting up the old dog on AIM or something?"

"No, I just wanted to meet him,' Rissy whined.

"Well, you've met him. Send him back," Inuyasha ordered. "I think we can do that much for your mother."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome glared from the doorway behind Sesshoumaru. "Excuse me a moment Sesshoumaru, while I go berate my husband."

"Yeah sick 'im, Aunt K!" Rissy cheered.

"Sick 'im! Sic 'Im!" a little boy cried gleefully from behind the woman who was clearly his mother. "Mama Sick 'im!"

The little silver haired boy came into the room and greeted Rissy before continuing to cheer on his mother.

"I would've thought you'd learned your lesson before," Kagome tugged on Inuyasha's imperfect turban.

"I am behaving woman!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow and he had the grace to flinch. "But it's just Sesshoumaru, he deserved it!"

"You haven't seen him in fifteen years, how could he deserve it?" Kagome asked reasonable.

"Keh!" Inuyasha looked away only to settle a playful glare on his son. "Sick her on me will you!" he growled and attacked the boy who squealed at the imminent onslaught.

"Don't get him all wound up Inuyasha! It's almost time for his nap," Kagome yelled at the hanyou.

"No nap!" the child grinned up at his father before making a demand. "Airplane!"

"Aren't you getting a little big for that?" Inuyasha asked, sort of trying to get out of trouble.

"What? Is Uncle Inu getting weak in his old age?" Rissy teased.

"Who you calling old?" Inuyasha demanded and lunged after the teenager.

"Daddy's old! Daddy's old!" the boy clapped.

"Traitor," Inuyasha declared.

"Yes Daddy is so old, isn't he baby?" Kagome encouraged her son.

"Argh! It's a conspiracy!" Inuyasha yelled as he gave up chasing Rissy and surprise attacked his wife.

"What's all the commotion?" Ayame grumbled and stalked to the fridge.

The ookami youkai was breeding. Sesshoumaru could smell it and it was just beginning to show. What he wouldn't give to see his own female breeding someday.

If he ever recovered her, that is.

"Ayame! Don't drink from the carton!" Inuyasha growled.

"I'm pregnant, I can do whatever the hell I want!" Ayame growled back.

"It's alright Uncle Inu," Rissy soothed him. "I know how anal you've gotten in your old age, so I bought Ayame her own carton to drink from."

"I am not old!"

"Mommy, who is that strange man?" the little boy asked.

"He's your Uncle Sesshoumaru," Kagome told him.

"Se-shoe-ma-foo'?"

"Yes, Say shoe ma foo'," Inuyasha answered.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded him sharply.

"What? We let the boy mutilate everybody else's name," Inuyasha shrugged.

"Does your mother know he's here?" Ayame asked Rissy.

"No, and she was just about to take him back to the Airport," Inuyasha answered for the teenager.

"Probably for the best," Ayame shrugged.

"Inu-Ayame!" Kagome couldn't decide whom to scold first. "It's been fifteen years!"

"Five hundred for him," Ayame corrected dismissively.

"He probably doesn't even remember her name," Inuyasha growled. "After all the crap he's put her through I don't want him near her."

"There is a difference between back then and now," Kagome pointed out. "There's a lot more people around to buffer her than there was then."

"I still say it's a bad idea," the hanyou grumbled.

"What's he doing here anyway?" Ayame asked.

"I wanted to meet him," Rissy smiled.

Ayame gave her an assessing look. "Well, he's certainly somebody to meet I guess, I'll give you that. Granted meeting the asshole more than once is pure folly."

"Ayame, watch your language," Kagome said sharply.

"What? Oh did I slip into Japanese again, or was it Hebrew this time?" Ayame asked mildly.

"I still find it hilarious that you and Kouga are fluent in Hebrew," Rissy smiled at the pregnant youkai.

"Things happen in five hundred years," the wolf replied.

"Kouga know you're up here?" Inuyasha asked.

"He all but ordered me up here when I complained about my back and feet," Ayame grumbled. "All my children are his, I really think he should have to carry at least one to term. Teach him not to mind my complaining, the jerk!"

"you want me to get you a heating pad and help you get all comfy some where?" Kagome asked.

"Kagome, I love you. Where have you been through all my pregnancies?" the gravid female asked sarcastically.

"Jumping in and out of a frigging well," Kagome answered dully.

"Curse all wells in general for keeping you from me!" Ayame declared before the two women exited on their joint mission.

Rissy watched them go with a smile before throwing a glance at Sesshoumaru. "Mother's name is Sylvia," she told him gently while Inuyasha 'keh'ed on the other side of the island in the kitchen.

"You'd best call her Silver if you want to get her attention," a voice continued from the hallway.

"Nanny-train!" Inuyasha's son cried.

"Nana Trank," Rissy got up to hug the older woman. "Security going pretty dull?"

Trank hugged the teenager. "I thought it was so I came up to fix myself a cup of tea only to find the devil incarnate in my kitchen."

"I beg your pardon," Sesshoumaru said in surprise.

"I meant Inuyasha," Trank gave him a cheeky grin before glaring at the other brother. "I clearly remember banning you from this room until hell froze over! I don't think it has and your poor disguise attempt won't grant you entry either."

"Nanny-train, can I have a cookie?" the silver-haired child asked.

"No, Beni. Your mom wouldn't like you eating sugar right before your nap," Inuyasha shook his towel-turbaned head carefully.

"Oh nonsense, boys need sugar to survive," Trank declared. "Here you go Beni. Tell your daddy that he either lets you have your cookie or you'll drink half this can of Red Bull."

"What the hell are you doing with an energy drink?" Inuyasha demanded.

"It's left over from my science project," Rissy answered promptly. "I ran tests on it to see what its effects would be on plant life and various surfaces."

"Hurry up and answer Beni's ultimatum Inuyasha. Red Bull or the cookie," Trank demanded.

"Fine give him the cookie," Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome came back in. "Who gave my son a cookie?"

Everybody in the kitchen pointed at Inuyasha. "I didn't have a choice Damnit!"

"Inuyasha that is the worst lie I've ever heard," his mate declared. "How can you have no choice but to give your four year old son a cookie?"

"They all ganged up on me!"

Kagome gave him a flat look before glancing around the kitchen. "It doesn't look like there was a struggle."

"I'm not going to get violent with two women and a four year old!" Inuyasha bellowed.

As their argument continued, Trank snuck Beni two more cookies. "Who gave my son another cookie?" Kagome demanded.

"What are you talking about dear?" Trank asked gently, gazing over her steeping tea. "The boy appears to be munching on the same cookie to me."

"Beni was half-way through it when I walked through that door and he's still holding a half eaten cookie now. He eats faster than that and you know it Trank!" Kagome grated sternly.

"I can't help if he was so distracted by your argument that he forgot to gobble up the confection," Trank sniffed dismissively.

"You expect me to believe that my four year old was distracted from sugar by a silly argument?" Kagome laughed derisively. "Do I look as stupid as you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Trank teased.

Kagome all but snarled and launched herself at the older female. Inuyasha caught her around the waist and hauled her back to his chest. "Now, now, you're only allowed to get that angry at me," the hanyou muttered in her ear.

Kagome took a deep breath before consciously forcing her muscles to relax. "I'm calm all right. Put me down so I can put Beni down for a nap."

"No nap!" the boy whined.

"It's nap time Beni, you know the rules," Kagome replied firmly.

"Aww, but – "

"Beni," Kagome lifted her son and carried him out of the kitchen. "Would somebody get these stupid bags out of the front hall?" she yelled at everyone in general.

"Why don't you and your Uncle go get Sesshoumaru's things put in the large guest room, Rissy?" tank half ordered.

"You're letting him stay here?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"You'd rather I sent him home with you and Kagome?" Trank asked blandly.

"Right, Come on kid. Lets go get the old dog set up in the guest room," Inuyasha walked out of the kitchen. Rissy followed suit.

Sesshoumaru turned to follow them, he did need to know where he was to stay after all, but Trank called him back. "Stay, Sesshoumaru," the female called to him and despite her rudeness in addressing him so informally he half turned to listen.


	3. The Rival Situation

I'M FREEE! I'M SOOOO FREEE!

Guess what! If you read the last AN you guessed right! I no longer work for horrible detestable Wallie world no more! Such Bliss! such Joy!

Really the only thing I MIGHT miss is my discount card. And that was only a lousy ten percent off. I was told that if you stay with the company for twenty years you get to keep it. Frankly it's not worth it, sorry.

So now all my energy is being put towards looking forward. Cleaning out my stuff in storage (despite some set backs from the last attempt) and the big ol' move to the great South West. I'm pumped and full of positive energy. GET ME OUTTA THIS STATE BEFORE THE SNOW CAN RETURN! To which you say it's July. I shall reply with only, "but it's Michigan" and still win the argument.

I had a few complaints about the last chapter being a bit hectic. Sorry about that, but if you really think about it, I only introduced three new characters in the course of ten pages. So what on EARTH are you talking about?

I apologize. Sometimes people just floor me.

AS always, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Kagome, Ayame, Kouga, Jaken and Rin are not mine. Everything else...I plead the fifth.

**The Rival Situation**

"You'll have to forgive our lack of formalities and pomp, but we don't care much for outdated time consuming ceremony when addressing each other. This house is a home and the people that come here are treated like family, close family. The business run on this property is a long-standing family business that was formerly run by the family that took Silver in when she was a girl. The help is considered family and is treated as such. You'll have to forgive us if we treat you the same," Trank picked up her cup and walked out into the hall beyond Sesshoumaru. "Please follow me."

She lead him to a door halfway down the hall and down the steps behind it. "The family business and house act as cover for the real stuff we do here. It took us ten years to get this place built and running without alerting the locals of what we were doing so you can tell your damn youkai council that we are acting within the stupid code and they can stop trying to use it as an excuse to get in the continents. We have similar facilities in each of the seventeen sectors we've divided the continents into.

"We run it differently from any other youkai territory. This is not a monarchy or a dictatorship. It's more like a bunch of united territories with a single lord standing against power hounds and civil war. Basically the lord is a figurehead like the human's European Monarchy or the American President. Actually I suppose it's more like the American President without the election or brevity of term. And without being publicly identified and sworn in.

"The people needed a leader they could be certain wouldn't be killed off real quick, but at the same time they needed proof their new lord existed in order to rest easy," Trank continued.

"Thus the council, group, court or whatever you call your crowd of possible lords," Sesshoumaru nodded. The lord, whoever it was, was a genius.

"Right. The Circle can be seen, can be touched and just the possibility of anyone of us being the lord puts our people's hearts at ease, not to mention how much better it makes us feel. The fear has abated and the power struggles to find a decent lord for each of the sectors or former territories have finally stopped." Trank smiled as she focused on the monitors in front of her. "These computers are the central nervous center of the whole territory. We keep track of inter-sector trading and repeat border offenders. We established laws mildly limiting travel between sectors to make policing them easier. Our sector of direct responsibility is the largest and often times the most troublesome." Trank muttered and frowned. She pushed a button on the console in front of her, "Silver, I hate to call you away from the mare, but that jackass from sector 8 is violating or borders again. I can't send anybody else otherwise I'd send Kouga."

"I know, I'd really like to know where he hell he picked up that damn technique, I'm on it. Steve-" that glorious voice was cut off when the connection was severed.

"We have one problem all the other sectors never seem to, we get all the nuisances determined to discover the lord's identity," Trank growled in frustration. "This particular nuisance started that way, but he's since decided that Silver is the most interesting creature in the world and he's stubbornly made it so that anybody else that goes to police him fails painfully just so he can harass her."

Sesshoumaru growled himself.

"What? You don't like that somebody else noticed, upon first meeting, what you didn't notice until it was shoved down your throat and taken away?" Trank accused the inu youkai without looking up.

"What do you know?" Sesshoumaru demanded.

"I know that if you were to bleed out every drop of blood in your body repeatedly everyday for the rest of your life, you wouldn't even begin to pay for the damage you've done to Silver," Trank declared angrily before calming. "I know that you're drawn to her like a moth to a flame, but you've left her too broken to even begin to forgive you." Sesshoumaru blinked at the woman's restrained hostility. "And the saddest thing of all is that she never gave up on you finding happiness, she gave up on herself."

Sesshoumaru took a step back under her gaze.

"You don't know, do you?" Trank thought out loud. "About sixteen or seventeen years ago, Silver fell down Kagome's well. The well that sent them five hundred years into the past. You've lived five hundred years since you last saw her. I'm sure it was horribly painful, etc. and so on. For Silver, Inuyasha, and Kagome it has been a little over fifteen years. Fifteen years since you broke the pieces of Silver that could dream and cry. Fifteen years in which she has molded herself into what her people and her daughter needed her to be. She is strong because they demand that she be strong. She is tireless because they need her to be constantly alert. And she smiles because it is required of her to do so." Trank continued bitterly, "I hope you're proud of what you've pounded our little silver dollar into being."

"She's worth more than that," Sesshoumaru growled. He disliked being accused of things he hadn't even been present for. And Silver truly was more precious than any currency could lay a price to.

"Perhaps she is," Trank conceded, "but she was happy as nothing more than our silver dollar. At least then she felt she was worth something to herself. I don't think she does anymore."

Sesshoumaru watched the flickering lights on the console and monitors. No matter what anyone said, the feeling of elation just couldn't leave him. She was here, his mate, his love. She was finally within reach for the first time in five hundred years (not bothering to count the change). He could scent her distinctly in the air. He knew her blessed name and the only thing that could make him more ecstatic would be if she were with him and they could make up for lost time.

"Hey Steve, I'm going to need you to come in to dinner early tonight," Trank hit the button on the console again.

A masculine chuckle rolled out of the speaker. "Well what do you know, Silver anticipated you again. She said she'd be back in time to relieve me for dinner," Steve answered.

"I hate when she does that," Trank grumbled.

"Face it Trank, you unpredictability is completely foiled by Silver's seventh or eighth sense. Only Rissy has ever managed to slide under her radar, and even then it was only the one time," the male laughed again.

"You'll never guess who's coming to dinner," Trank changed the subject.

"The great Inu youkai lord Sesshoumaru formerly of the western islands of Japan, currently of the whole archipelago and South Korea, senior council lord of the UYC. And he's currently standing four paces to the left of you leaning against the red emergency procedures box ad staring at the speaker with utter surprise," Steve answered dryly.

"How the hell did you know?" Trank demanded.

"Sesshoumaru's reputation is well known as are his titles. Silver detected him entering the sector about four hours ago and somehow detected he was with you when you sent her after the Sector 8 violator. Going based on what I know of the youkai, I assumed he would want to stand as far away from you without _looking_ like he wanted to stand as far away as possible," Steve explained. "Greetings and salutations, oh taciturn tormenter of the fair lady Silver."

Sesshoumaru Growled with displeasure.

"Steve behave yourself," Silver's voice ordered the male good-humoredly.

"If it isn't the fair Quicksilver herself," Steve playfully gasped. "I suppose I shall have to behave myself if my lady so wishes, but oh how difficult it will be. If only I had but a kiss it would not seem so bad."

"Out of my stable with you, you're disturbing the horses," Silver demanded. "And take that jackass up to the house and tag him, painfully this time. And no matter what he tries to tell you, I didn't do any permanent damage!"

"Did you hear that Trank? Tag him don't mutilate him!" Silver continued after a pause of some minutes clearly delineating the exit of Steve from the stable.

"I still don't get why you won't let me string him up by his intestines. He's been harassing you for more than a decade now," Trank almost whined.

"My but you are blood thirsty. In any case, he's harmless for the most part, just young and under the control of his hormones. I can't just kill him for acting the way nature requires," Silver returned evenly.

"He didn't steal another kiss did he? If he did I really will string him up by his entrails," Trank declared.

"No, you're going to tag him painfully and contact Sector 8's security head to come and get him," Sliver said, clearly weary of the argument. "Steve should be there in about five minutes to take care of that and help you guys with dinner."

"What about you?" Trank inquired.

"Stupid question Trank. I'm staying here. Rissy's mare has put us behind schedule on the chores and about two more horses need to be taken out and worked with. Nobody else can do it with the mare about to drop in here. Ayame and Kouga are wolves, as are the rest of their clan. Inuyasha and Rissy don't have the proper temperament to gain the horses' trust and they're part inu youkai. Kagome's chasing after Beni and she's not much good with the horses either. You're busy and soon Steve will be too, unless you want to send the border violator back out here. He's neko youkai and the horses don't seem to mind him at all," Silver added.

"No way am I sending him out there with you, unless you want him," Trank stated over Sesshoumaru's growl.

Silver chuckled dryly, "It's not what you're assuming in your perverted little brain. I was just saying he could work those horses while I finished up the chores and kept an eye on that mare."

"Not happening," Sesshoumaru growled firmly.

"Whatever," Silver declared before the connection was terminated.

Sesshoumaru growled. He was tired of only hearing her. He was tired of hearing about her. He wanted to see her. Preferably in a compromising position with himself.

"Shut up!" Trank snapped. "Do you know how hard it's been just to get her to mildly tease anyone? It's like pulling teeth to get her to banter."

"He was not going to be sent back out there. That stranger is not to go near her," he declared darkly.

"Why? Because he might actually be helpful? Because Silver might actually finish up before dark?" Trank glared at him. "Just how far did you go to find her? What efforts did you make? When did you decide it wasn't worth the effort? I bet you didn't even leave Japan to look for her. You probably didn't question anyone but Inuyasha and your little group of travelers. Now, after fifteen years or five hundred you want to start treating her like your property? That won't fly here buster. If that's what you think you're going to do you might as well take that rid to the airport now!" Trank herded him towards the stairs, her eyes flashing the red that accompanied so many youkai's rage.

"There a problem here Trank," a tall bronze skinned, dark-haired male asked from the top of the stairs. "Oh please tell me there's a problem so that I can defend your honor and Silver's peace of mind."

"We were just setting down some ground rules for the misplaced possessiveness this youkai has displayed towards my little silver dollar," Trank answered gruffly.

"Ah yes, the inu are notorious for their possessiveness. I find it difficult to believe that they have not died out from their mistreatment of their females. They fail to trust the very women they so desired for their strength and honor. Their mistrust in turn insults the lady," the male shook his head. "My kind would never treat a lady thus. We trust our females to know whom they will return to and act accordingly."

"Horses are truly noble creatures in any language or species," Trank smiled at him.

"Now what brought this about, fair Trank?"

"Silver suggested we send our Sector 8 visitor back to the stable after he's tagged so that he can help work the horses and finish up the chores since Rissy's mare caused so much trouble today." Trank turned back to the console and the tall male pushed Sesshoumaru away from the stairs gently.

"It's not a bad idea, the cat doesn't seem to upset the horses any and it'll keep him busy until Sector 8 can retrieve him. Makes sense to make him do something to make up for the trouble he's caused," Steve nodded. "I'm afraid I'm part of the problem with Rissy's mare."

"How's that Steve?" Trank asked curiously.

"With so many lovely females around an my not having mated or coupled yet this year, it's throwing my energies all over the place and the horses are being effected." Steve answered slightly embarrassed.

"Why don't you just get it over with then?" Trank asked.

"The grand event we have planned later this month," Steve replied shortly.

"Ah right," Trank remembered.

"You'd better get dinner started before the restless ones decide to attack the kitchen and cook for themselves," Steve changed the subject.

"That'll never happen again! It took me weeks to get the kitchen set to rights after last time," Trank glowered. "What do we do with him?" she motioned to the silent inu youkai.

"Well, I imagine it would be best for him to stay down here with me. We wouldn't want him making a target of himself in the kitchen surrounded by sharp implements and you in control of them. Something dreadful might happen," Steve pointed out. The horse youkai shivered at the memory of his own experience at finding Trank busy in the kitchen.

"Oh take all the fun out of it," Trank grumbled. "Did the Sector 8 idiot get tagged?"

"Inuyasha was handling it. We thought it best despite Kagome's offer to tag him. She seemed angry enough to tag the cat in a manner that wouldn't heal," Steve answered.

"I knew I liked that woman!" Trank crowed happily. "Well I suppose I'll go up and send the boy back to the stable so Silver can put him to work." She ignored Sesshoumaru's displeased growl as she headed up the stairs.

"You'll have to excuse the fair Trank," Steve began quietly. "She's mighty protective of Silver. She's been watching over her since Quicksilver was just a girl rejected by her birth family and adopted into the human family that ultimately saved her life." The horse began to manipulate the controls on the console until the center monitor showed a scene inside what looked to be a stable. "This way we can be certain of the cat's good behavior and the lovely lady Silver's safety," Steve announced with a sigh. "Course it's always fun to just watch Quicksilver work."

There she was, the ghost of his memory flickering on the screen. Finally he could see her. Sesshoumaru growled as an orange haired male came into view. He didn't like him close to Silver, especially not when Sesshoumaru hadn't been that close to his mate in so very long.

The woman sent the male out promptly, leading a horse behind him while she set about the cleaning and moving stuff about required for the proper running of a stable. It should've been very dull to watch.

Oh but it wasn't. To see her work and move, he was enraptured. Why had he never paid attention to the beauty of her movement before? Why did he wait until he had to steal secret glimpses of her to notice the glorious strength and suppleness of her body?

"You can stop staring at my ass now, Steve," Silver's voice filtered through the speakers as she continued to work. "You're supposed to be monitoring security." She was now trying to get the horses all fed.

"But fair lady Silver's it's such a round juicy-"

"Bear in mind the company you keep before you finish that statement," Silver warned him.

Steve glanced at the inu youkai before saying, "Carrot. That's a nice juicy carrot that you're feeding the horse. Yep, I love carrots."

"Steve," Silver began, patting one of the horses on the neck.

"Yes, Quicksilver," Steve answered brightly.

"That was the worst cover I have ever heard," she moved to another horse. "It's a wonder we ever let you negotiate with our people in an official capacity."

"It's because of my inexorable charm," Steve said winsomely.

"Oh, is that so?" Silver muttered blandly. "Then it's a wonder we haven't been massacred already."

"Hey! At least I keep my hands to myself!" he snorted.

"True, Jasper has yet to learn that much. Then again he seems awfully selective about his touching," Silver thought out loud.

"Who's Jasper?" Steve demanded and Sesshoumaru seconded it.

"The hooligan from Sector 8. Speaking of which, did Trank get a hold of them?" Silver asked absently.

"I didn't now the jackass had a name," the horse youkai murmured.

"Don't be stupid, of course the guy has a name," she scoffed.

"I'd have to ask Trank about picking up our sexual harassment poser child," Steve answered her previous question. "And I refuse to do so before and during dinner, thank you."

"Wimp!" she declared evenly.

"When was the last time you interrupted the fair Trank's dinner preparations and presentations?" Steve demanded.

"I can't believe you're so afraid of Trank!" Silver exclaimed. "Just ask her from the hall and quickly haul it below stairs after she answers. If she gives you any trouble just tell her I asked."

"It's still too risky," Steve declared.

"Then ask her over the intercom," Silver suggested mildly.

"But then I'd have to end my conversation with you," Steve complained.

"Poor baby," She replied mildly and severed the connection once more.

"Well that's one way to end the conversation," Steve muttered, then he glanced over at Sesshoumaru. "At least we still get to watch. Not even Trank could turn off the cameras from the stable."

Silver leveled a considering look at the camera just as the orange haired male reentered the stable. She glanced at him, to Sesshoumaru's annoyance, and said something to the cretin his instincts screamed was a rival. The male Silver spoke to gave her a seductive smile that she seemed impervious to.

Then the neko youkai called Jasper gave a nod and strode to a point just below the camera.

"What's this mischief?" Steve muttered in disbelief. Silver gave a condescending wave just before the monitor went dark. "She didn't just do that!"

Sesshoumaru blinked at the horse youkai. Obviously she had found a way to turn off the camera in the stable.

"Oh fine," Steve grumbled and hit another button on the console. "Silver wants to know if you got a hold of the Sector 8 security head."

"Damnit, Steve!" Trank's harried voice carried over the speakers like a menacing tidal wave. "I almost cut myself. You better be ready to run you puffed up my little pony reject because I'm coming after you and you're liable to need more than one tourniquet by the time I'm done with you!"

Trank's tirade went on at length and Sesshoumaru had the pleasure of watching the color recede from behind Steve's dark tan. He had to admit, if he were the one receiving Trank's ire, he possibly wouldn't be so amused by her creatively colorful threats.

"Trank please! Mercy!" Steve whimpered. "Silver made me do it. She wants to know when we can unload Jasper."

"Who?" Trank demanded.

"The sector 8 violator," Steve clarified.

The woman's sigh floated through the room, "Trust Silver to learn the bum's name."

"She thinks he's harmless," Steve pointed out.

"She also thinks he's a hormone driven kid," Trank rejoined. "He's older than she is."

"True that," Steve nodded needlessly, "but experience has made her old. Leadership and motherhood can do that to a person."

"Yeah, well why couldn't it have happened to some other person?" Trank grumbled darkly.

"We may never know the reasoning behind fate," Steve answered sagely. "But we can find the answer to when we get to hand over Jasper."

"It's such a stupid question, and yet you're determined to answer it right now," Trank sounded a bit peeved.

"Quicksilver forced me to interrupt you at your most dangerous to answer this question," Steve replied blandly. "I'll not let the question I risked my life for go unanswered."

"What'd she do? Turn off the intercom?" Trank asked with vague amusement.

"And had Jasper cover the camera," Steve muttered.

"With what?" Trank wanted to know.

"I'm certain I don't know, and I'm not likely to find out until I get the answer to my question," Steve pointed out.

"My money's on his shirt," Trank declared.

"Why? It could just as easily be a horse blanket or a rag of some kind." Steve pointed out over Sesshoumaru's growl.

"Do you honestly think that walking harassment case would let such a golden opportunity go by without removing some part of his wardrobe?" Trank asked.

"You do have a point my fair Trank, but I'm still not likely to find out until I produce the answer to my Lady Silver's question."

"Oh fine," Trank muttered. "Nobody would talk to me after I got past 'repeated border violator'. Seems they don't want our old buddy Jasper back anymore."

"That very underhanded of them," Steve chuckled.

"I can't really blame them," Trank declared. "It seems the only time we ever talk to them is to return Silver Dollar's ardent admirer."

"Too true," Steve laughed.

"There's you answer, now leave me alone until you tell me what they covered the camera with at dinner," Trank ordered before cutting off the connection to the kitchen.

Steve shook his head before pushing the button to talk to Silver. "We have your answer Quicksilver. And Trank demands to know what you covered the camera with."

"Give me my answer and I'll think about revealing what it is," Silver returned, her voice a little breathy from some kind of exertion.

The sound tickled Sesshoumaru's inner ear and set his blood to simmering. Unfortunately it also brought images of just what kind of exertion could leave her breathy around another male. They weren't particularly pleasant images. Most ended with him ripping the orange haired male limb from limb just before Silver, his precious Silver, glanced over him with disgust before turning away and dissolving on the wind.

Great, Sesshoumaru glared at the small room before him, now he had a new set of nightmares.

"Sector 8 is orphaning your pet molester," Steve declared bluntly. He hoped Jasper was listening. "At least that's the impression Trank got when they essentially hung up on her."

"They said they would the next time I breached your border," a disembodied male voice slithered through the speaker.

"Holy hell kid!" Steve exclaimed. "With a voice like that you shouldn't need to chase after Lady Silver. You could lay out any number of females without effort."

"I want the best," the voice replied. "And Silver is the best."

"Am not," Silver replied shortly.

"I'm afraid I'll have to agree with the deviant on this one, Quicksilver," Steve chuckled. "But even still, I'm afraid I must ask what you covered the camera with, again. Trank will have my head if I don't give her the answer at dinner."

"I didn't cover that stupid camera with anything," Silver pointed out.

"Too true, fair Silver," Steve conceded. "You asked the mischievous Jasper to do it."

"And I was only too happy to oblige," Jasper replied.

"Happy? You were ecstatic," Silver corrected dryly.

"Especially after I learned an old lover was present," Jasper laughed impishly.

"I hardly think one night makes a lover," Silver declared. "Isn't that more of a one night stand?"

"Oh, harsh," Jasper gasped. "So how about a one night stand?"

"How about I shove a pitch fork up you ass?" Silver threatened.

"Only if I get to watch," Steve declared.

"No way! Everything Silver does to my body is absolutely private," Jasper declared loftily. "Only I get the privilege of that knowledge."

"You say it as if you think I'm going to do more than fend you off," Silver grumbled and suddenly the monitor flickered briefly before it was fully uncovered, revealing a view of Jasper in his shirtless glory.

"Trank was right," Steve muttered.

"What was that?" Silver asked over Sesshoumaru's growl.

"I said, Trank was right," Steve answered. "She was pretty sure Jasper had used his shirt to cover the camera."

"And you doubted her judgment?" Silver asked. "Trank's normally right Steve. Didn't you know that?"

"I shall never doubt Trank again," Steve vowed.

"I wouldn't go quite that far," Silver shrugged. "She has been wrong upon occasion, but for the most part she's a fair judge about most situations." She tossed the shirt off the pitchfork towards the laughing Jasper. "Here's your smelly shirt back."

"You're quite right, it is smelly," Jasper caught the garment and made a face, "much too smelly to wear." He held the shirt at arms length a mischievous smile tugging at his lips as he winked at her.

Silver snorted and turned the hose on Jasper and his smelly shirt. "It's not so smelly anymore," she declared evenly as he sputtered wetly. "Now go take care of that last horse and quit goofing off.

"But what if I catch my death of cold?" Jasper asked. "Would you nurse me back to health personally? Will you wrap me in the warmth of your loving care?"

She sprayed him with the hose one more time, this time directly in the face. "We're in the middle of a heat wave, I think you'll be just fine."

"Stop arguing with Quicksilver," Steve suggested. "You'll never win. All you'll do is annoy her."

Jasper sighed dramatically and flicked his dripping orange hair. "Well I wouldn't want to ruin my chances by making my Silver Dollar angry with me," he winked at her incorrigibly as he walked out of sight.

"Gee thanks Steve," Silver grumbled flatly. "Now he won't bother to argue with me, he'll just do things without asking."

Steve blinked, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Yes, well now that we've proven you can't think and interact with others at the same time, you'd better focus on doing your job and stop watching me," she glared at the camera. "I can take care of myself, the stable, and Jasper just fine without your voyeurism. And tell Maruhama to stop growling so much. It's bound to give Rissy a bad opinion of him." She ended the conversation and promptly walked out of view.

Steve sighed, "Too true, and with Inuyasha around you're lucky Rissy wanted to meet you at all."

"Why should that matter to me?" Sesshoumaru demanded coolly.

Steve blinked at the youkai lord. "Because she's your daughter. Did no one explain it to you?" he asked in surprise. "Silver and Inuyasha and Kagome jumped through time. Silver and Kagome went back initially and when they returned Inuyasha jumped forward. It's only been about fifteen years for them." Steve shook his head. "Silver's family sent her overseas as an exchange student and she came back an orphaned fallen angel too broken to laugh or cry."

"Mine?" Sesshoumaru was slow to believe in the reality of his deepest wish. Silver had not found another mate; she had not replaced him and her daughter was his.

"Don't get me wrong. Rissy is her own person and she won't follow anyone but Silver. But she does share your DNA. If the child wasn't so fond of hair dye and contacts you might have been able to pick up the resemblance immediately upon acquaintance," Steve continued. "And Silver's been standing on her own so long she probably won't let anybody take over her life."

"Mine," Sesshoumaru declared more firmly.

"I'm afraid you'll have to rethink that sentiment," a voice called from the stairs. "Everybody here considers Silver fully emancipated and independent in all the ways that matter," Ayame declared dispassionately.

"A wondrous example of motherhood has graced us," Steve gushed. "It could only mean that Trank has convened our meal and sent the precious Ayame to call us to it."

Ayame glanced over the horse youkai blandly before returning her attention to Sesshoumaru. "Silver's survived pregnancy, motherhood and running a territory without the support of a male. Any woman who can do all that is absolutely unattached to any male unless she chooses otherwise," she said. "I ask you, what person who could claim such great accomplishments would offer up their independence to become a piece of neglected property?"

"You are not a piece of neglected property!" A gruff voice exclaimed from behind the pregnant female. "You're a spoiled queen of my heart that I indulge too much."

"Kouga!" Ayame glowed. "I wasn't talking about me."

"Why do I smell dog turd's older brother?" the wolf youkai demanded slightly on edge.

"Rissy wanted to meet him, so she conspired with Jaken to get him here," Ayame gestured to the stoic youkai.

"You mean Inuyasha didn't talk her out of any good opinions of Sesshoumaru she might have had yet?" Kouga asked blandly.

Ayame barked a laugh; "You know Silver told the girl just enough so Rissy wouldn't be ashamed of her parentage."

"For Rissy's sake I hope she'll never have to be," Kouga declared. "I would hate to see that kid suffer the same as Silver did."

"Amen to that," Steve muttered.

"What's everybody doing on the stairs?" Rissy's clear voice carried down into the room. "Trank will kill you all if you're late and I'd really hate to have to eat you as Trank will cook you for dinner to hide the evidence. And I'd have to eat you because Trank would kill me if I didn't." Rissy's voice faded as she walked off to continue her flight through the improbable.

"Morbid little thing isn't she," Ayame chuckled.

"Nah, she's completely honest," Steve declared. "Trank will kill us if we don't make it to dinner."

"And she probably would cook up the bodies to hide the evidence," Kouga laughed.

"You're absolutely bonkers," Ayame shoved Kouga farther up the stairs and he laughed.

Sesshoumaru stared after them still processing what he'd just learned. That talkative and bright teenager was his daughter. A daughter he had never met before, hadn't watched grow up, hadn't welcomed to the world. And her mother had done all that without him.

But Silver had raised their daughter without seeking out some other male also. That meant no one else had ever touched her. She was still his, he just had to convince her of that and insure that nobody else had the chance to know the wonder of Silver.


	4. A Comforting Moment

WEll, apparently nobody was real impressed with the last chapter. that's okay, I'll live. Besides, I expect you'll like this chapter better. Silver makes her grand appearance trailed by Jasper, Sesshoumaru's seriuos mental problems make themselves known, and the real plot begins. yeah yeah, you thought the plot was already in place. So? I never make things easy, didn't you know that?

I would also like to appologize about the itallics issue in the first chapter. When I went back to reread through it I noticed that for some reason the font started about a line behind where it was supposed to. I blame FFnet because it wasn't like that in the original file. But as there isn't any itallics again until next chapter, ther's nothing to worry about.

I don't introduce any new characters in this chapter. Be happy for the reprieve because it doesn't happen often. I do make passing mention of a couple, but they come in later so there's no real reason to worry about it just yet.

I'm moving. I don't know when yet, I did have a date and then I had to postpone it for family reasons. Nothing serious, we just have to take a family portrait to give to my Grandmother for christmas. She wanted it and she asked for it several months ago because she knew I was planning to move out of state. And I don't plan to come back for a long time.

And as always, Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Kouga, Ayame, Rin, Jaken, and Shippou are not mine. Everything else...well you get the picture.

**A Comforting Moment**

Silver didn't make it back to the house until well after the house had settled for the night. He knew, he had watched for her.

Sesshoumaru watched for Silver as Kouga and Ayame left, two of their sons in tow behind them.

He looked for her as Inuyasha and Kagome took their own son home.

It wasn't until long after Trank had bullied Rissy into turning out the lights in her room and Trank had found her own rest that Silver wandered into the house. If it hadn't been for the noise Jasper made, he might have missed her.

As it was he didn't catch up with them until Silver had lead the cat into the kitchen. "I'm sure we can scrounge up something edible without igniting the wrath of Trank," Silver whispered as she opened the fridge.

"Is she really that bad about her kitchen?" Jasper asked just as quietly.

"Well just about everybody else is frightened of her," Silver shrugged as she pulled out the makings of a sandwich.

"Steve seemed most assuredly terrified earlier this evening," Sesshoumaru observed dryly.

"Don't tell me they didn't feed you too," Silver grumbled as she set to work.

"Oh I've eaten," he replied evenly. He wasn't paying particularly close attention to Silver at the moment. Sesshoumaru was more interested in warning off the male who sought to take his mate.

Jasper, for his part, likewise studied his rival. It was Sesshoumaru he'd have to measure up to and surpass in order to win over the fair Silver.

"Tone down the testosterone fellas," Silver ordered. "It's a bit late in the day to start up that nonsense."

Sesshoumaru growled, he would defend his claim any time of the day or night!

Silver's eyes flashed fire at him, "If you wake up my daughter I will personally evict you from the premises. For her I will tolerate you and for her I will dismiss you. Rissy is my world; Rissy and my people dictate your welcome and the length of your stay. You'd do well to remember that."

Then she handed a sandwich over to Jasper and picked up her own before walking past him to the stairs down to the basement. She was calm, the fire eternally banked but ready to be fanned into flame. In those few words he had seen what fifteen years had wrought.

Silver had been spirited before. Sesshoumaru could remember her laughing and playing with Rin. He could remember her impassioned defense of people she hadn't even known and her rabid determination to be fair regardless of people and place.

The laughter was gone according to those who'd watched over her as were her tears. The passion was gone from her defense of strangers. And she wasn't going to be fair to him, not that he deserved fairness.

She was still honest, but now her honesty was brutal. Her honor was untarnished in all eyes except her own. There was shame in her voice when she spoke of what had happened between them so long ago.

"You think you could get Jasper settled out in that spare room off the stable?" Silver's voice floated to him.

"You're not going to keep him in the house?" Steve asked in surprise.

"You'd trust him in the house?" Silver asked incredulously. "He's liable to hunt through rooms until he's found mine and then I'll never get any peace."

"I thought he was harmless," Steve remarked, bewilderment coloring his voice.

"He is, he's just annoying and his room search is likely to disturb Trank and Rissy," silver replied.

"Good point," Steve acknowledged. "Where is he now?"

"Eating in the kitchen," Silver answered, "probably staring at Sesshoumaru staring down the hall."

"And eaves dropping," Jasper called quietly with a cheeky grin.

"And eaves dropping," Silver repeated wryly. "Jasper really is like a big kid hyped up on too much sugar."

"Kid?" Jasper gasped. "Only if a kid can bring you to the pinnacle of pleasure until you feel you've never known anything else but me inside you."

"Is it still considered pedophilia if the child repeatedly prepositions the adult?" Silver asked.

"It isn't when the child in question is older than you," Steve pointed out.

"I'm willing for you to consider it pedophilia as long as you're considering it with me," Jasper called from the top of the stair.

"Will you get Casanova out of here before Trank decides to sleep walk down here and eviscerate him?" Silver ordered.

"Lord yes," Steve jumped to the task. "I'm not that fond of neko youkai casserole."

"What?" Jasper asked in confusion.

"Were you almost late for dinner again?" Silver asked. "You know I hate when Rissy has cause to talk like that."

"Better she talks about it than it actually happens," Steve replied in amusement. "Farewell Lady Silver."   
"Get going you old flirt," Silver ordered gently.

"Just remember," Steve said before leaving, "Nobody gets some until next month.

Silver stared after him and shook her head. "As if that will be a problem."

Sesshoumaru descended the last few steps regally and fell under the glow of the monitors. He studied his lady as she picked up her sandwich and stared at it before shaking her head and pushing it aside.

Silver was a lot thinner than he remembered. Her cheekbones were more pronounced than they used to be. Her eyes were flat and distant. Before him sat a shadow of the woman he had known, destroyed by the harshness of life and time.

Maybe she would've surmounted the pain of life and the ravages of time a little better if he hadn't made them worse. If he had offered to aid her instead of tearing her down in his arrogant disparaging of her character and honor.

Sesshoumaru stared at her avidly studying the screens in front of her. Did she feel nothing when he was so close? Could she not feel the pain recede now that they breathed the same air? Was she too far gone in her pain to notice a lessening of it?

Then he felt his consciousness slipping. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes in even greater sadness. Soon Id would take over.

The episodes of Id always took place after dark, and he could never clearly remember what had occurred during these episodes. It wasn't like when Ego or Superego were in charge. He could remember those events easily. But Id, Id kept everything to himself.

Id had never understood pride, especially the pride that lead to pushing Silver away. And Id had always wanted Silver. When the opportunity arose, Id had claimed her only to have her go away. In the desolation she left behind Id's rage had known no bounds and in the end, Id had gathered all the precious memories of his mate and denied Ego and Superego access to them.

Id had remembered her name. Id had remembered her voice. Id had remembered the sound of her crying out under him. Sesshoumaru had remembered sights and sensations and scents because that is what Ego and Superego had managed to grasp for themselves, but only Id remembered the sound of her, as well as her moniker.

And Id remembered her warmth next to him while they slept, Ego and Superego, the cause of their combined abandonment had never known that.

For all the things that Id knew and could have explained, he couldn't speak. He could only feel. And Id was desperate to feel Silver.

Id rushed across the small room to throw his arms around her waist and lay his head in her lap. It wasn't dignified. It wasn't seemly. But Id could not be bothered with such prideful restrictions.

"Sesshoumaru! Wha-?" Silver gasped in surprise. She stared down at the youkai kneeling beside her, hugging her loosely, and watching her like a lost child.

Id's red eyes stared up at her afraid she would push him away. Sesshoumaru had really hurt her all those years ago. She really had no reason to be kind to Id. Id, who had always adored her. Id, who had missed her terribly. Id, who would ask nothing more than to be close to her.

"I don't understand," Silver whispered as she stared into his red eyes, not moving to push him away, but not bothering to hold him either.

Id began to cry. She didn't understand and he couldn't tell her, for Id couldn't speak.

"Oh, I'm sorry, don't cry." Silver murmured gently and ran a hand through his silver hair. She'd grown quite adept at soothing tears over the years, for she hated the sorrow of others despite having a strong case of it herself. "Shh, it'll be all right."

Id watched her and purred. This was how she had cared for their pup. This is what she offered him like this. Id was pleased with his Silver's raising of their pup and her work, even if he had not been so privileged as to participate and watch. She was a good mother, even tired and hurt as she couldn't help but be, she was a good mother.

And Id believed her words. It would be All right. It might never be perfect, it may not always be pleasant, but things would work themselves out, for Id understood her. Id had always understood Silver. And Id would not take more than Silver would willingly give. Sesshoumaru had done that once and five hundred years of pain had been the deserved reward for the action.

So much pain, an endless pain that only abated in her presence. So long as he could stay right here, Id would always be happy.

Silver sighed and propped her feet up, watching as Id's eyes slid closed in tactile bliss as she continued to run over his hair do sweetly.

When her caresses changed to include her thumb gently rubbing over his cheek, Id slowly opened his eyes. He contentedly watched her study the consoles as she absently soothed him. How like an alert lioness? Always standing guard over her pack and territory.

Ego and Superego would demand that the roles be reversed. A male should be in charge and on guard. It was a pride thing. Id would laugh at his other selves if Id could laugh. Instead, Id contentedly purred under her watch, he was relieved that he warranted such care, no matter how insignificant it might seem to his more prideful personalities. Id was just happy to be noticed and touched.

He knew that without Ego and Superego he would never garner more attention from Silver, but Id was wary of them around her. They couldn't help without pride and pride would get in the way. Pride always did.

Id rubbed his cheek against Silver's pants, preferring to rub against her skin but willing to let it go so long as she was near. He inhaled deeply to fill his lungs with the scent of horse and hay and Silver. He was passively allowing her scent to permeate his hair and stain his face. He wanted the scent as a souvenir for after those other selves woke up. Id wanted them to know that Id had gotten this close to her for this long and all without their silly pride.

Silver's shirt had ridden up to expose her midriff under his grip. Id leaned forward to nuzzle the skin. Id mourned that he had not seen his pup inside this skin. He mourned that he hadn't seen his pup cradled in his own arms, but he did not regret the pup. The pup that had seen to it that his Silver was distracted, if only slightly, from the pain.

Perhaps someday Id would be blessed with such a sight, but only when Silver desired it.

His tongue darted out to taste the delicious skin of his mate.

Silver jumped and gasped. "Sesshoumaru, stop that!" She began to tug him away from her middle and Id whined pitifully.

Id gave her skin one last nuzzle before pulling back to stare up at her. She wouldn't make him let go, would she? He'd just wanted a taste. He would behave.

His red eyes pleaded with her to let him stay.

"Oh fine," Silver muttered peevishly. "Just behave yourself."

Id gave a sketchy nod and settled more comfortably against her. So slowly his eyes closed again and he drifted in the warmth of her under absent caresses and gentle shifting.

When Sesshoumaru woke up hours later he bolted up from his strange position and knocked his head on the arm of the chair next to him.

"Careful," the voice from so many of his dreams cautioned.

He looked up and there she was gazing down on him before turning to look at the monitors in front of her. "What am I doing down here," Sesshoumaru wondered aloud.

Silver raised her delicate eyebrow at him, "Looks to me like you're sitting."

He had the grace to blush. Whenever Id left him, he could never remember where he was or why. He'd gotten so used to Jaken immediately telling him everything that Id had done, he'd forgotten that Silver didn't know about his separate awarenesses. And Id had a tendency to be violent upon occasion.

"What did I do?" Sesshoumaru demanded, afraid Id had embarrassed him or hurt Silver despite the fact she appeared unharmed.

"When?" Silver asked absently.

"When my eyes were red?" Sesshoumaru cringed. He was going to have to explain his massive flaw to the woman he wanted to reclaim.

"Nothing much," Silver replied. "Don't you remember?"

"No," Sesshoumaru replied full of shame. "Id does not share with me."

"Id?" Silver asked, a bit more attentive.

"I…have a serious psychological problem," Sesshoumaru replied standing up and gazing about the room in search of damage.

"What's the problem?" Silver turned to face him.

"Sort of a split personality problem," Sesshoumaru mumbled.

"Ah," Silver nodded. "So Id is the one with the red eyes."

"Yes," he nodded glumly in return.

"And who are you?" Silver asked.

"Superego," he replied.

"What's different about you?" Silver asked.

"I'm more thought oriented where Id is mostly feelings," he relied. "Id doesn't talk and can be moved to mindless violence when he's angry or frustrated."

"How do you know if he doesn't talk to you?" Silver snorted.

"Because he's been angry with us since you disappeared," Sesshoumaru answered softly.

"Whom else are we talking about?"

"Ego."

"Not particularly creative."

"Sesshoumaru never was."

"You talk an awful lot for Sesshoumaru," Silver pointed out.

"Yes well, Ego prefers to act over talking and Id can't talk at all."

"So you're making up for them."

"Something like that," Superego agreed. "Now will you tell me just what damage did Id do?"

"No damage," Silver declared. "He was actually kind of sweet." She returned to watching the monitors.

"Id was sweet?"

She just nodded in response.

Sesshoumaru stared at her perplexed. "How was Id sweet, exactly?"

"He just was," she shrugged.

"Id has never been sweet before," he pondered.

"Maybe he likes me," Silver shrugged.

He snorted, "Of course Id likes you! He's liked you since before there was a separate Id identity! It's part of why he hates us so much!"

"And when did Id happen?"

"About a week after you disappeared. Ego and Superego split about a century later."

Silver shook her head, "Poor Id."

"Poor Id!" Sesshoumaru exclaimed in disbelief. "What do you mean 'poor Id'?

"He's been alone all this time," Silver murmured, studying the monitors again.

"He wouldn't have been if you hadn't left!"

Silver's gaze whipped around to stare at him. "I went where I was needed."

Her eyes challenged him to say the words, to declare that he had needed her, to toss aside his pride and admit he wanted and desired and needed her presence. But he knew the folly of that road, if he said it he was selfish, if he didn't he was prideful. So he said nothing.

She nodded to herself as if he had done exactly what she thought he would do. He'd taken the coward's way out.

"I told Rin I would leave so that other little girls that didn't have a Sesshoumaru to protect them would at least have a little Silver dollar in their pocket." Silver spoke quietly, "I told Jaken it was time I put away childish things and faced the reality that death had made of my life. I could no longer play at being the heroine in my own private fairy tale." Sesshoumaru flinched at the words she'd just said. He could remember the many times he'd told her that dreams were for children and fools, fairy tales for the weak of mind and hiding for those better off dead. "After already saying that to them, how could I have stayed, even if you had asked, which you didn't." she reminded him.

"Then how is it only Id garners you sympathy? You left us all but Id alone receives such kindness," Sesshoumaru demanded.

"Because Id alone is without artifice. Id demands nothing so much as moderate consideration, he asks for nothing more than what I wish to give and to simply be near me." Silver stared at him directly. "Id behaved when I told him to and fell harmlessly asleep in my lap." Superego blushed scarlet. "You would demand more of me," Silver continued. "You or Ego spent all yesterday demanding I ignore Jasper simply because he was male. You demanded I pay attention to just you. You wanted me to give over everything I am so you can hold me to you. Id did not. Id simply watched while I worked content so long as I let him stay." Silver breathed. "So I say again, poor Id."

"But we all missed you," Sesshoumaru pointed out. "You've been out of reach for over 500 years."

"And I'm still beyond your reach," Silver declared. "I can't go gallivanting around with the lord of Japan, Senior Council of the UYC. What I do affects the lives of too many for me to do something so thoughtless."

A light flashed on the panel in front of her before he could reply. Silver reached forward and pressed a few buttons until a gridded map came up on the center monitor. A green dot traveled across the uppermost part of it.

"Damn," Silver muttered then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, she was gonna be up in about fifteen minutes anyway."

Sesshoumaru watched the dot travel in a straight line closer to the center of the map.

"Trank," Silver spoke commandingly. "You're going to need to come down here a little early. We've got an intruder from Sector 2 with a definite purpose."

"I'll be down in five minutes," Trank's voice was crisp and clear despite the earliness of the hour. "You head on out to intercept and I'll be manning the consoles before you hit ground zero."

"All right, I'm out," Silver turned off the intercom and stood up. She slipped on a light jacket before climbing the stairs. "You stay here," She ordered him, "I've got a little house cleaning to do and then we can continue this discussion."

Sesshoumaru stared after her debating whether he should follow her or stay and almost certain he should be angry she had left him out of the impending fight. But this was her territory (shared with the rest of her people) and it was not his place to defend it. And while he would like to argue it was his place to protect her, he wasn't convinced she needed his help.

As Ayame had point out, Silver had stood on her own quite successfully through all the time they were apart. And somehow he felt arguing her need for him to protect her would be as damaging as all the times he'd told her dreams were for children and fools. It would undermine her confidence in her own abilities, but not in a way that would help him rekindle her affections towards him. Somehow he knew that Id understood that.

Id had proven to understand better than Superego, with all his reason. Id understood her, recognized her for the wonder she was and since Ego and Superego had failed to figure it out, he refused to share.

Sesshoumaru shook his head; he needed to stop thinking like that. Superego, ego and Id were all him. So if Id knew then he knew, somewhere.

"So you've been down here bothering Silver all night, hmm?" Trank marched in and settled in the chair Silver had vacated. The female slipped a head set with microphone attachment over her head. "All right Silver what have we got?"

"Sector 2 sent in a youkai to sabotage next month's event," Silver's calm voice crackled over the radio. "At least that's what it looks like."

"We knew they were going to make attempts when we stared the rumors," Trank muttered sourly.

"So we did," Silver agreed.

Sesshoumaru watched as a blue dot sped across the monitor to intercept the first. "Looks like this one was meant for you Trank," Silver's voice sparked with grim amusement.

"How can you tell?" Trank asked curiously.

"He's the proper breed," Silver muttered. The two dots clashed and one flared to red briefly.

"Talk to me Silver," Trank demanded. "How bad is the damage?"

"Just a scratch," Silver answered. "He refuses to negotiate."

"I guess so," Trank gave a tense laugh.

Another flare of red had Sesshoumaru whining under his breath. His imagination filled with Silver's bloodied body.

"It's alright, that wasn't Silver," Trank muttered to the side. "Status report."

"I knocked him out," Silver stated flatly. "I've trussed him up for good measure. Security breach over, I should be back in time to see Rissy off to school."

Trank sighed, "Wish they could pick a better time of the day."

"What was he trying to sabotage?" Sesshoumaru was very curious.

"We've decided to hold a big event next month to start up negotiations with the foreign powers. We've started the rumors internally to get our people started on preparations. We'll announce it overseas in two weeks," Trank explained.

"That's hardly any notice at all," Sesshoumaru point out. "Surely you must realize international events are planned months in advance and RSVPs are normally required at least a month in advance."

"We know all that, that's why we're waiting," Trank cut him off. "We're issuing a general invitation and the short notice will help cut down attendance, otherwise we'd be overwhelmed."

"Why would your own people seek to sabotage an event that would ultimately benefit them?" he asked.

"Because that's not the only rumor we sent around," Trank answered.

Sesshoumaru felt a chill of premonition; he didn't think he was going to like this 'second rumor'.

"Next month all the single members of the Lord's entourage will be seeking mates," Trank announced. "That's me, Steve, Kouga and Ayame's two eldest sons, and Silver."

"Silver is mated," Sesshoumaru growled with displeasure.

"Mating isn't permanent and none of the public has ever seen her any other way but single," Trank pointed out. "I don't think she intends to actually be mated to anyone, even though everybody has been urging her towards it for years. Every male that steps forward as a suitor is eligible. Anyone from within the territory and beyond. And at the end of the event the rumor is that we will identify the lord of the Americas."

"So I'm eligible," Sesshoumaru murmured.

"If you choose to be, in a month," Trank pointed out. "And that's why our people will try to sabotage it. Some of our people don't want the lord identified; they recognize what stability the lord's anonymity has bought them. Many do not wish to allow foreign blood into our ruler's circle. So they seek to eliminate the possibility by having us mated before hand. It's part of why sector 8 refuses to collect Jasper."

Sesshoumaru growled.

"It was probably the reason Rissy and Jaken conspired to bring you in now," Trank continued. "They wanted to warn you, give you a bit of a heads up before the rest of the world." The woman sighed, "Rissy's a bit of a dreamer and romantic at heart. She reminds me of Silver at that age, only Silver was a bit more insecure. Her blood parents had abandoned her for the stupidest reason."

"What reason?"

"She didn't appear youkai," Trank answered and Sesshoumaru's throat closed. It was the same reason he'd refused to acknowledge his attraction to Silver. Everything he'd ever done to her had widened the cracks in her armor and dug the emotional wounds even deeper. No wonder she'd all but broken under the strain of time. "Silver never had been overtly youkai, but when she came back from Japan, she was different. Now, when she fights, her youkai blood becomes obvious. Sometimes I wonder if it would've done so before if she were forced to fight as she does now."

Sesshoumaru stared at the dots on the screen, not really seeing them. He needed to think about his part in driving Silver away. He needed to regroup and approach the situation correctly. She had opened the channels she would consider a proper approach to claiming her, and this time he would do it right. This time, if he was successful, he would claim her on her terms.

Sesshoumaru turned from the room and went up the stairs.

"Rissy!" Silver called through the house. "Kagome's here to drive you to school!"

"Coming!" and the girl, his daughter, barreled past him towards the front door. "I still don't get why I can't drive to school."

Silver handed Rissy her bag, "You can't drive to school because the car would then be stuck there all day and we wouldn't have a car."

"But you never go anywhere," Rissy whined.

"Emergencies happen," Silver declared shortly. "Now come here." She crooked her finger at the teenager.

"What?" Rissy came closer, slightly puzzled.

Silver touched her forefinger to her daughters nose. "Be good!"

Rissy giggled, "I will. Bye mom!"

Silver waved her off. "Bye baby!" She wore a gentle smile until the car was out of sight.

The whole display left a lump in Sesshoumaru's throat. He wanted to be a part of that. Superego shook his head, but in order to gain that he'd have to do things right and he had an entire month to figure out how to do that.

Silver turned to gaze at him flatly.

"I think this situation will be fine for now," Sesshoumaru began softly and she blinked with surprise. "You have a lot to do and no time right now. We can finish our discussion later."

"Are you sure?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, after all, I have a lot to do myself before next month," Sesshoumaru replied.

Silver shook her head, "Trank," she muttered.

"I'll do things right this time," Sesshoumru drew closer to her. "I'll recognize you for the wonder that you are and be sure to tell you properly, but first I have to learn how," His lips quirked in a rueful smile. "So I'll go and return with the others to pant after you as you deserve and maybe…" he sighed.

Silver looked at him like he'd gone mad. Perhaps he finally had at the thought of leaving here without her, but madness or not he would make it up to her for all the evil he'd done to her soul. And he'd make it up to Id, whom he realized he was going to need to pull this off.

Sesshoumaru stepped a little closer and planted a gentle kiss of promise on her cheek. "Until next month," he whispered in her ear before drawing back.

"Smart move," Steve broken in. "The fair Silver will be here to welcome you and all the rest. And we'll be sure to keep our eyes on Jasper," he promised. "Go retrieve your things and I'll drive you to the airport. Go get some breakfast dear Silver. If I know you at all, you didn't eat last night."

"Silver!" Trank's irate voice burst up the stairs. "What have I told you about leaving food in the security room?"

"That it had better be something you like so you can eat it!" Silver hollered back as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Go get yourself some grub Jasper," Steve slapped the orange haired male forward. "And you'd better behave yourself or you'll find yourself on the receiving end of Trank's good grilling fork."

"Woo, Kinky! And will wonderful Silver be on the dealer's end?" Jasper wondered out loud.

"Grilling forks don't have a dealer's end," Steve shook his head as Jasper disappeared down the hall. "Whenever you're ready Maruhama."

Sesshoumaru paused briefly before forcing himself to move to end his brief visit. He would be back. A deep sigh set him in motion and twenty minutes later he and his luggage were loaded into the now familiar Jimmy headed towards the airport.

Steve was a fairly quiet driver and Sesshoumaru barely noticed the passage of time. There was a great deal to think about. Jaken would probably enlist himself to help his lord, fond as he had been of Silver. Precious Rin would likewise inject her own help in the situation whether her mate allowed it or not.

He'd have to hold off telling Rin though. Silver's people weren't announcing their plans for another two weeks and he would show himself lacking should he disrupt their plans after they'd been kind enough to give him advance warning. Sesshoumaru wanted to put his best foot forward.

The car pulled to a stop, signaling the end of the ride.

"C'mon your lordliness, lets get you to where you can start your plotting in earnest," Steve turned off the Jimmy and started grabbing Sesshoumaru's luggage. "Oh and before I forget," the horse youkai dug a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Here."

Sesshoumaru studied the numbers on the paper and lifted an eyebrow at Steve.

"That is the cell phone number of Everybody's favorite teenage princess," he winked at Sesshoumaru. "Silver said Rissy would be quite upset if you left without saying goodbye. Rissy may be as optimistic as the day is long, but having somebody she'd worked so hard to meet leave without a farewell would greatly damper her good opinion of you."

Sesshoumaru stuffed the number in a convenient pocket.

"She'll be available to talk in about three hours. Remember to call the sweet filly," Steve continued as they got Sesshoumaru's ticket and baggage checked. "If you're good to the sweet Rissy, she will be a strong Ally."

"You," Sesshoumaru began cautiously. "Are not against my suit for Silver?"

"I'm not against anyone, so long as Silver is happy." Steve smiled. "I'd be happy if she paired off with Jasper so long as he made her happy, but not before the big event next month."

"Not an ally, but likewise not an enemy," Sesshoumaru shook his head.

"Exactly," Steve nodded. "Now Trank on the other hand, Trank's against everyone that has ever harassed Silver. Inuyasha is against you because of your past misdeeds. Kagome's willing to give you a closely supervised chance. Kouga and Ayame are too busy with preparations for their next offspring to really care one-way or the other. And their kids, well Youta and Toji are the only two you're likely to meet and I think the second harbors something of a crush for Silver. But none of that will matter if you win over Silver, will it?"

Sesshoumaru ran a hand through his shortened hair; this might be more difficult that he thought.

"No matter what happens, you can't succeed if you quit," Steve observed before offering him a safe flight and leaving Sesshoumaru in the terminal alone.


	5. Catching up with the Past

WEll, I told you the last chapter would be awesome! This chapter is pretty cool too. Just for you lovely people we find out how Sesshoumaru and Silver originally met. Oh and of course there are lots of new characters in this chapter. You love my characters, you know you do. Even the bad ones!

And the plot moves on...

Hey I picked up another fan or two. Arvael is spoiling me absolutely rotten. And she has lots of questions which spoils me even more. I love questions...because I gots the answers!

I'm having a blast with this not working thing. I'm getting a ton of reading done, I can write whenever I want and now I can start packing to leave too. It's rather stellar. And best of all, my family isn't coming home again until this weekend, so the house is mine! Buahahaha!

ahem, erm, yeah and Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, KAgome, Jaken, Kouga, Ayame, Rin, and Shippou are not mine. Everyone else...is open for interpretation!

Oh and as usual any mention of popculture icons and such likewise aren't mine. Well known movies belong to their respective producers, authors, directors, studios and companies.

**Catching Up with the Past**

Sesshoumaru really had spent too much time on planes as of late, especially for someone who hates to fly by modern means. And since Jaken had insisted on coming along, they were taking the private jet. His only consolation was the company of Rin and her mate.

"I can't wait to see my Silver dollar again," Rin gushed happily. "And to think she really did manage to put a little Silver dollar in everybody's pocket."

"I don't think she could justify leaving you behind if she hadn't," the male next to her said. Rin's mate had only achieved Sesshoumaru's reluctant approval because he truly treasured everything about Rin. Manitoya had everything against him when he sought to claim his love. He was young and rash and worst of all, foreign. But Sesshoumaru's little girl loved the alien ice god and nothing but his equal love could've convinced the inu youkai to let her go. "I'm just surprised she could bare to be apart from you for so long."

"She's been busy," Rin shrugged. "To think she returned home to become, well sort of become, the lord of two whole continents! That's a lot of little girl she's protecting. Little girls and little boys and their moms and dads too." She shook her head in wonder. "I always knew she was special, but that inspires awe."

"Then I share your awe," Manitoya concurred. "I'm more impressed she managed to do it and raise her daughter."

"That girl isn't that much hassle," Jaken declared. "It's Inuyasha that would have been the most trouble."

"Hmm, I don't think so," Rin grinned. "I'm pretty sure Kagome has him pretty well house broken by now."

"Not around Kouga I'm afraid," Jaken disagreed. "Young Marissa tells me they try to keep the two from spending too much time in the same room, especially now that Ayame's breeding again."

"I can't get over Silver's daughter keeping you up to date with the latest gossip on her end," Rin shook her head in amusement.

"And why not? She knows me better than any of the rest of you," Jaken said indignantly.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, "Rissy would tell anyone that much, the girl loves to talk."

"You've been keeping up with her since last month," Rin smiled. "How do you like her?"

"It was impossible not to keep up with the girl once she got my number in her phone," he chuckled softly. Rissy had called him so often he was almost glad he hadn't watched her grow up.

Rin shook her head at him, "You enjoy her phone calls and you know it."

He gave the daughter of his heart a half smile. Sesshoumaru did enjoy his talks with Rissy; they were informative and endearing and had helped him deal with not being with Silver when he knew where she was. It was because of Rissy that Id had finally opened up to him.

Id couldn't help it. A good number of Rissy's calls came in after dark and Id never wanted to hurt his pup. She wanted to hear him talk and the only way to do that was to allow Ego and Superego to do the talking, but Id also wanted to know his pup so they would have to share.

"This even looks to be a very interesting three days," Jaken observed.

"How many people do you think will be there?" Rin asked.

"Oh too many, I'm sure," Manitoya shrugged. "A general invitation to the previously closed off Americas for trade negotiations, possible alliance matings, and the identity of this elusive lord would cause a stampede on shorter notice. If they wanted a more limited turn out they should've waited to announce it the day before."

"Most schedules for officials are set months in advance. Wouldn't suddenly dropping everything and interrupting that schedule cause numerous international conflicts?" Rin asked.

"Not if all the scheduled appointments were broken off by all the parties involved," Jaken pointed out. "Luckily I knew enough to keep Sesshoumaru's schedule free for it so we wouldn't have to worry about it."

"Just how long have you known about this event?" Rin demanded.

"Rissy told me about it months ago," He answered without shame or guilt. "It pays to be friends with the inner court of the biggest territory in the world."

"It helps that Rissy contacted you to learn about her father, you mean," Rin teased.

"Yes, that too," Jaken nodded and Rin laughed.

Sesshoumaru had missed Rin's laughter. When Rin had mated, she'd moved to live with Manitoya and away from him. He would often go for years, even decades at a time before he would get to see her again.

It was hard to let go of Rin after Silver was gone, but he'd learned the hard way, he couldn't keep Rin from following her heart. For nearly fifty years, Sesshoumaru had lost her before he'd finally broken down and accepted Rin was happily mated permanently to her love. Luckily for him, gods could extend the lives of their human mates, otherwise Sesshoumaru would never have reconciled with her before her death.

Gods were a special breed of youkai and were most commonly elemental and, like the wolves, they formed fairly permanent relationships.

"You'd best be getting back in your seats, we'll be landing soon," Jaken observed.

Rin squeezed Sesshoumaru's hand before going to her seat next to her mate. The ice god gazed at her adoringly as she settled under the seat belt.

"Ah, such good times," Jaken mused. "I remember when she was barely taller than me and always getting in to trouble. She used to have nightmares and Silver took them all away. And to think it almost didn't happen at all," the old youkai chuckled quietly.

Sesshoumaru remembered that. Where he could protect the little girl from the physical dangers, Silver had protected against the nightmares. Where the inu youkai had supplied the necessities, she had supplied the tools Rin needed to take care of the rest. He had nurtured the body and Silver fed Rin's heart and soul.

Silver was the reason why Rin could laugh and love with all her heart. She certainly hadn't learned that from him.

And in all honesty, Silver could've probably done everything he had from the beginning. Well maybe not the protecting part, she wasn't very good at protecting Rin and herself when they first met.

_Rin had gotten lost again. It was always bad when Rin was lost, especially for extended periods of time. And Sesshoumaru hadn't been able to beat up Jaken properly either._

_"Kyaa!" Rin's high-pitched scream bounced off the trees. A sound of utter distress and fear._

_It set him to hurrying in her direction. He didn't run, a lord never runs unless his life is directly threatened. And in later remembrances he wished he'd gone a bit faster._

_He paused to watch the situation unfold when he finally came in sight of his ward. She was standing unharmed next to a tree staring in terror at the scuffle occurring barely two meters away._

_A strangely dressed human female was squaring off against a giant spider with nothing but a tree branch. The spider youkai danced forward and the female swung the branch to solidly connect with the black mass that was its body. A resounding crack rent the air as the piece of wood broke from the impact and the spider swayed to the side._

_"Take that, leggy!" the female gasped, but the spider wasn't done. The dark youkai managed to spear her side with the sharp claws at the end of one long spindly leg. "Ugh!" the human clamped her teeth shut in a grimace. Breathing hard around the pain and surge of adrenalin she stabbed the sharp end of her shortened weapon into the lower front end of the body. "Eat this!" she muttered._

_The dead youkai began to dissolve and the female pushed to her feet panting. Then she sensed him and turned to face him lowering into a shaky defensive stance._

_"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin cried joyfully and ran towards him._

_Sesshoumaru's eyes remained on the human as she promptly dropped the piece of wood and sank to the ground. She tore at her clothing to bandage her side before rising again._

_"If you could point me towards a village, I'll go seek medical help," the strange woman requested blandly._

_Sesshoumaru just stared down at her, declaring her inferior with nothing more than a look._

_"Okay forget it," she gave him a weird look before turning and walking away._

If Rin hadn't badgered him into following her, Silver would've died that day. There was no village in that direction and she never would have made it if there were. Sesshoumaru had wound up doctoring her, but she'd proven herself capable of protecting Rin.

After that Silver followed them everywhere, or perhaps it was the other way around. Not that it mattered; Silver was content to go where they went because she had nothing else to do. And he'd assumed it was for the stupidest, most asinine reasons.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, his nausea warring with his developing headache for dominance. He really did hate landings.

"Sir, we've landed," Jaken nudged him and Sesshoumaru blinked, hiding his extreme relief at the cessation of artificial motion for a moment.

"Looks like the American part is here to meet us," Manitoya murmured after unbuckling the safety belt.

"What? Is it Silver?" Rin asked excitedly. "I hope it's Silver!"

"Let's get off the plane," Manitoya suggested. "We'll be sure to find out then."

Rin poked him in the arm and chuckled.

"What do you think Sesshoumaru?" Jaken asked his lord.

"It's not likely to be Silver," Sesshoumaru murmured, though he might have wished otherwise.

"So I thought," Jaken nodded. "Shall we go meet them anyway?"

"If we want to get past this point, we certainly should," Sesshoumaru muttered and exited the plane.

"The Americas' offer welcome to the Manitoya and Maruhama delegations in peace and good will," a disgustingly familiar voice sounded in Sesshoumaru's ears. "If you come bearing us no ill will kindly join our celebrations. If not, feel free to depart to a place more to your liking."

"Jasper," Sesshoumaru growled.

"Ah! It's the former lover," the orange-haired male dropped his formal attitude. "It wouldn't be a proper conquest if I didn't woo the wondrous Silver away from you with you not present to watch."

"And so the posturing and competing commence!" a cheerful voice ruined Jasper's effect. "I've been waiting for you to get here all day!"

"Rissy," Sesshoumaru chuckled quietly. "Meet Rin, Manitoya and Jaken."

"Jaken! We finally meet! And you're just how mama described you!" Rissy declared happily. "I've missed you on-line but I guess everybody's been busy, especially us. It was a nightmare rigging security so that we could monitor it from town since nobody's going to be home much for the next few days. Trank about had a heart attack fourteen times! It was so funny to watch! Beni and I had a lot of fun hiding the cables from her for about a week. We had to stop when Steve caught us." She made a face. "I'm so excited to be practically living in a hotel for the entire event. Mama even said I didn't have to go to school the whole time!"

"Rissy," Sesshoumaru cut in gently as he was the only one not completely overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.

"What?"

"We might want to move off the airport tarmac while you tell us where we're going," he suggested.

"Oh," she laughed. "Silly me! Let's get everybody in the limo! Isn't this awesome? I've never ridden in a limo before, though I do miss my Jimmy. Mama said my car wasn't the right thing to use on such an occasion. With how some of the delegations have dressed, I guess she was right."

"Have you been like this with all the delegates you've met?" Manitoya asked gently.

"Mama said to be myself and not put on a show. She said that if they didn't like it they could just go home," Rissy smiled. "One delegation nearly did when they realized we'd only sent out two people to meet them. They'd thought we were insulting them when really we only send two people out for every delegation."

"Has Silver been meeting any of the delegations?" Rin asked.

"Nope," Rissy smiled. "None of the eligible youkai of the inner circle has been sent out to meet anybody. Trank says they wouldn't want to look like they're favoring anybody before the event starts. It's just been me and Jasper, Aunt K and Uncle Inu, and Ayame and Kouga, for the most part. Lucky for us a lot of delegations arrived together in groups. You'll make forty delegations we've seen today."

"What a feat!" Rin exclaimed.

"Not really," Rissy shook her head.

"Kagome and Inuyasha are the power team," Jasper explained. "They've done meet and greet for nearly twice that already today."

Rissy shrugged, "They got the busier airport."

"True enough."

"You're our last group," Rissy declared brightly. "We've got to go get ready for the opening ceremonies. I asked what would happen if somebody arrived after we all had to leave to get ready. Trank said anybody that arrived later would have to slink into the ceremonies on their own." She laughed, "Of course Trank was having a rather bad day at the time."

"It might have had something to do with you playing Beni's _Finding Nemo_ tape over the security monitors during the first system check," Jasper suggested evenly.

"Oh don't sound so stern!" Rissy bated at his shoulder. "You laughed too."

"I did until I saw how Silver looked," Jasper conceded. "Why the lovely Silver hasn't gone completely gray I'll never know. It's not for lack of you trying."

"Oh nonsense," Rissy shook her head. "Mama only threatens to go gray over life and death situations. And we're quite happy the number of those has been cut down drastically in the last decade." She shrugged, "Besides, mama always knows what's going on."

"She didn't look like she knew it was a prank," Jasper pointed out.

"She was worrying over the intruders from Sectors 3, 4, and 15."

"How do you know about that?" Jasper demanded.

"I knew it was coming after Sector 2 sent in that one to woo," she laughed over the word, "Trank. It was only a matter of time before people sent in the ones for Steve, Youta and Toji."

"Whom did they send in for Silver?" Rin inquired curiously.

"Well, Jasper for one, but he's been after mama for nearly a decade now," Rissy replied.

"Wait, what do you mean 'for one'?" Jaken demanded.

"There have been a total of six would-be matches sent in for mama," Rissy laughed. "That's including Jasper here." She smiled teasingly. "Mama seems to be the big catch. Trank's had three attempts and each of the guys had no more than one a piece."

"Your people are a coldly calculating bunch of frightened tacticians," Manitoya observed. "They seem to be of the impression that the females are more likely to allow a foreign male to influence them, hence the more numerous efforts to prevent it compared to the barely token attempts to sabotage the males."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Rissy frowned.

"I bet your mom has," Jasper shrugged.

"Mama's going to raise hell after this is over," Rissy shook her head.

"I should think so," Rin nodded. "Silver has proven herself very capable of taking care of herself and her people as has this Trank. I'm surprised Silver Dollar hasn't beaten it out of the people all ready."

Jaken shuddered, "I wouldn't wish that on any poor soul, may they be quick to learn the lesson."

"Trank will probably get to them first," Jasper shuddered in turn. "The woman has a fondness for knives and violence."

"Did you interrupt her while she was cooking?" Sesshoumaru asked with relish.

"You wouldn't be able to say that and laugh if you'd seen what I did," Jasper cringed.

"Silver doesn't suffer under the same affliction," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"Neither does Rissy, but I don't consider her an accurate indicator of danger," Jasper declared.

"Hey!" Rissy objected.

"Just because Silver and her daughter do not feel threatened by this Trank person does not mean they are incapable of perceiving real danger," Rin smiled cheekily. "They can't help it if they do not share your fear."

"Yeah," Rissy grinned, "Like she said. I should think Mama's first little girl would know day from night and informed indifference from fearful stupidity."

"And when was the last time you entered Trank's kitchen during dinner preparations?" Jasper demanded.

"Oh let's see, it was about," Rissy thought back. "About two weeks ago to save your stupid butt. But I have hung out with Trank during dinner prep many times over the years. Trank insisted."

"What reason did she give for your presence?" Jaken inquired.

"I was learning how to cook," Rissy grinned. "She declared me a hopeless case at least once a week for four years before Mama finally convinced her to let it go."

"So you can't cook," Jasper laughed. "One of the many things you can't do."

"No, I can cook just fine, I just can't master Trank's particular style of food preparation," Rissy replied haughtily.

"You mean she does it on purpose," Jasper gasped.

"Oh yeah. We'll never have to worry about anyone poisoning the food so long as Trank is in charge of it." Rissy shrugged. "She won't bother me or mom because she trusts us, but she doesn't drop the violence just because we're there either. I think the entire inner circle is perfectly safe, they just don't realize it. Either that or they like to perpetuate the fear of Trank wherever they go."

"Which is no bad thing," Manitoya pointed out.

"True enough," Rissy shrugged. "Of course those not of the inner circle should probably be afraid of Trank. She's every bit as dangerous as she seems and more."

"Gee thanks, now my nightmares will have nightmares," Jasper grumbled.

"You're welcome!" Rissy said brightly as the limo pulled to a stop. "Here we are! We'll see you in a couple hours. I was going to try and get you in to escort mama to the ceremonies but Steve and Trank foiled my plans," Rissy winced at her bad turn of phrase. "Steve is escorting mama, Toji is escorting Trank, and I'm going with Youta. They wanted to be sure nobody could declare any favoritism was being shown before the event even started." She shrugged, "So the inner circle is escorting itself and I'm filling out the numbers. Poor Jasper has to go stag," she teased him. "See you then."

They watched her flit across the hotel lobby and vanish in the elevator.

"She certainly talks a great deal," Manitoya offered in amusement. "Quite shrewd of them to have her greet delegations."

"What do you meant?" Rin blinked at her mate.

"I mean she would probably scare off a few delegations all by herself," Manitoya declared. "She is perfectly honest and full of candor, and the amount of words she squeezed into the short ride would likely send every delegation that wasn't earnestly seeking to establish trade and honest relations with the continents running for their planes for fear of having to negotiate with her."

"Caught on to us have you?" Jasper chuckled. "About twenty of Kagome and Inuyasha's delegations didn't make it to the limo before turning tail and running. Ayame and Kouga have turned back thirty of the fifty they've greeted, and they're exceedingly polite. Ayame's pregnancy alone scares most of them off. Rissy and I turned back fifteen and I suspect she'll have another ten on the run before the evening's out."

"Rissy's being the daughter of one of the eligible to mate would help warn off the ones here just to gain the power of mating into the inner circle," Manitoya nodded. "It's pure genius and amazingly tactful."

"The genius is all Silver's I believe," Jasper grinned mischievously. "And any soul that could be driven away by such minor obstacles didn't have a chance to begin with."

"When power comes with the inconvenience of such a talkative family, you either really want it, desperately need it or think the lady herself is worth the effort if you continue to pursue it," Manitoya observed. "Lucky for us, we feel the lady is more than worth the effort and we are completely immune to any irritation that some others might feel with the darling girl sent to greet us."

"That and our prior relationship with Silver has made us very determined," Rin smiled.

"And I'm determined as you are," Manitoya responded.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Jasper waved his hand between them. "I might remind you that this is the lobby and a very public place and the only one allowed to get all amorous and touchy-feely is me."

"I don't recall that being in the briefing this morning," a laughing voice washed over them.

"That's because it wasn't," a male voice responded.

"Kagome! Inuyasha!" Rin identified them with pleasure.

"Well what do you know, the little runt is still around," the hanyou grinned at her warmly.

"Inuyasha, you will behave yourself," Kagome warned.

"I was just going to warmly welcome Sesshoumaru's runt and pet toad, how could that be considered misbehaving?" he asked innocently.

"Your tone and language leave much to be desired," Kagome growled shortly. "How are you all? It's certainly been a long time since last we met."

"It certainly has," Rin nodded happily. "Have you been with the Americas long?"

"Oh we came over to help Silver two months after Rissy was born," Kagome shrugged. "It's satisfying work to set up and run two continents successfully, though Inuyasha did have a bit of trouble mastering diplomacy in the beginning."

"Yeah, let's not mention how that so-called trouble was always used to our advantage," Inuyasha muttered.

"Mama!" a shrill voice broke through the mild buzz of the busy lobby was filled with. A little ball of black and red and white bolted through the large area. "Mama, Mama!"

"Oh my," Kagome gasped.

"Somebody was supposed to be watching him," Inuyasha growled.

"Mama, I found you!" the little boy giggled up at his parents.

"Beni, who's supposed to be watching you?" Inuyasha asked his son.

"Sorry Uncle Inu," an out of breath girl caught up with the little culprit. "We were playing hide and seek and Beni decided you were playing too," she gasped.

"It's alright, Yume. No harm done," Kagome declared hugging her son.

"Kagome," Inuyasha began sternly.

"No. Harm. Done." Kagome replied shortly. "I see you've got on your party clothes. You're such a distinguished little gentleman!"

Beni's chest puffed up with pride. "Aunt Silbe said I could stay up with the grown ups and eat ice cream."

"Aunt Silver also said you had to behave first!" Yumi pointed out and the boy scowled.

"Oh my," Rin laughed warmly. "Perhaps you should introduce us to this fine young gentleman and his companion." She winked at Kagome.

"Dear me, where are my manners," Kagome played along. "Rin this is my son Beni and Kouga and Ayame's daughter, Yume. Beni, Yume, this is," Kagome blinked. "Well, sort of your cousin Rin and her mate-" she waited for the name to supplied.

"Cousin?" Beni squinted in thought.

"Like Yume or Toji," Kagome explained, and the boy nodded. "This is their good friend Jaken."

"And Uncle Say shoe," Beni declared.

"When did he shorten it?" Inuyasha asked.

"It's better than it was," Kagome shrugged.

"Pleased to meet you," Yume gave a curtsy.

"Mantoe, Jak, and Rin!" Beni declared.

"Mantoe?" Rin and her mate asked incredulously.

Jaken just shook his head, "don't try to correct the boy. Marissa said he always mutilates everybody's name and he won't change for anything."

"He gets it from his father," Kagome declared.

"I disagree," Inuyasha poked his wife.

"But he didn't mutilate my name," Rin pointed out.

"Yes well, how would you mutilate your name?" Jaken demanded.

"Good point," Rin allowed.

"Actually the only person that seems to understand and never be surprised by Beni's penchant for name mutilation," Yume explained, "is Aunt Silver."

"Kagome!" A voice called for the little miko.

"Oh my god! It's Shippou!" Kagome exclaimed heading toward the voice's origin, son in tow.

"I haven't seen that brat in ages," Inuyasha muttered as he followed them.

"You might want to get ready," Yume suggested. "You wouldn't want to be late for the opening ceremonies."

"That Beni is so adorable," Rin declared with a squeal after Yume darted after Beni and his parents.

"He's not adorable," Jasper grunted. "He's an imp of mischief. A born hellion if ever there was one."

"Well he _is_ Inuyasha's offspring," Jaken declared as if that explained everything.

Jasper shrugged before excusing himself to get ready.

"I suppose we may as well get ready for tonight as well," Manitoya suggested. "We wouldn't want to risk being late."

"I don't know if I can wait until tonight to meet Silver," Rin grimaced with impatience. "It's been so long."

"Not much longer now, Rin," Sesshoumaru offered, more to reassure himself than Rin.

"And I bet you're more impatient for the wait to be over than I am," she murmured.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, "No, then the really hard part begins."

Rin sighed and allowed Manitoya to pull her way to get ready.

"Which part were you referring to?" Jaken asked quietly. "The part where others attempt to woo away Silver's affections, or the part where you have to let them?"

And that was the same question Sesshoumaru was pondering himself.


	6. Life of the Party

And WE're back to our regularly scheduled program.

Guess what! WE get to meet all sorts of new characters in this exciting new chapter! You know you wanted new characters, you _so_ did!

Ah the opening ceremonies. You know, opening Ceremonies for almost anything are incredibly boring. Not this time! the ceremonies themselves are decidedly boring, but nothing else is. So enjoy!

Today we're taking a family portrait, or rather I am with my family. Yes that stupid family portrait I couldn't leave the state for will be over with today! Sweet joy!

What does that mean for you? It means that sometime in the next week I'll be making the first trip way down south to look for a job and see if I can't get set up on my own. It feels so good to break out of the box I outgrew years ago. What could I possibly mean? Simply that living with my family has really cramped my style. I love my family, I really do, I just prefer them several states away. Which isn't to say I party or anything of the sort. It's just a great deal more pleasant to live my life, my way without someone constantly looking over my shoulder afraid of how my life is going. The concern is great and all, but I want the freedom to make mistakes without somebody studying it with a microscope. distance is needed.

As always, Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Rin, Jaken, Kouga, Ayame, and Shippou are not mine. Hell, there are some characters that are that I wish I could say that about!

**Life of The Party**

Sesshoumaru had purposely delayed entering the hotel's grand ballroom. He had never particularly liked crowds and would normally skip such a populated event. This time, there was too much at stake for him to skip out on.

His claim on Silver, all his future felicity and very likely whatever was left of his sanity could all be won or lost in the course of this political free for all initiated by the Americas. Everything he could not afford to lose was balanced on the tip of a knife's point and ready to fall, it was only a matter of whether he managed to catch it or not.

But that didn't mean he had to enter the packed ballroom before the last possible moment. Besides, his reluctance to face the throng could possibly win him a brief encounter with the woman who carried all his hopes for the future.

"What are you doing out here?" Jasper's voice demanded as the cat strolled down the hall towards him.

"Limiting my exposure to the power hungry grasping of my so-called peers," Sesshoumaru replied caustically. He was not about to make nice with one of the biggest threats to reclaiming his mate. Despite the taiyoukai's strong confidence in himself, Silver had always been able to surprise him and he could honestly see some traits in the neko that might appeal to a woman, any woman.

"You say that as if you think they'll try to steal yours," Jasper commented with disinterest. What did he care if Silver's ex lost power to the very delegations that were out to get the best of the Americas? "I think they're more interested in the inner circle of the Americas." Leaving off the insult to Sesshoumaru's territories in comparison was a bit of a strain, but Jasper was supposedly working in a political position for the circle and they had been adamant about keeping his personal feelings out of the job. He didn't want to disappoint Silver.

"I'm sure they are," Sesshoumaru offered blandly, "but the numbers of the inner circle are not so great that they can hold all the attention of such a large gathering of our political leaders. And none of them have presented themselves as of yet," he pointed out. "Until then, they labor to gather as much power as possible and defend against those that would take what they have gained. They do not openly argue, but employ the art of tactful insult and false friendship." Sesshoumaru couldn't resist adding, "It is called intrigue if you've lost your dictionary."

Jasper glared in the direction of the open doorway seething at the insult, but determined to stay focused on the greater good of capturing Silver's good opinion. Instead he addressed the issue of the cloying masses waiting to sink their claws into the Americas. "Then it will be all the easier to claim the wonderful Silver with my artless honesty and unfeigned humor. And the inner circle will likely see through this horrid band of drooling foreigners and turn away all attempts to trade and alliance." Apparently he wasn't good at focusing on the greater good. But the greater good was better served if Jasper's own desires were met as well.

Sesshoumaru blinked, "You do not approve of their plan?"

"We are a wealthy, independent territory," Jasper declared emphatically. "We don't need trade. We don't need outside interference or aid. Our lord pulled us out of chaos and darkness. We were drawn together and taught that we could do for ourselves with a 'barely there' lord."

"You don't even know who the lord is," Sesshoumaru observed. "How do you know this lord is 'barely there'?"

"You don't live in the sectors, you don't know the rule we live under," Jasper smiled. "I have lived under the old reign and the new. The restrictions the new lord has implemented are negligible though strictly enforced. The lord insured the people had jobs, but did not make them work. Travel between sectors is limited but only a little. The borders are watched, the inner economy monitored. Our people are secure and assured an income so long as they put forth the effort to claim it and all without a lord constantly breathing down their necks. It was not so before," Jasper glanced down the hall. "The circle has brought us out of the ashes left in the wake of the former rule's end and we wouldn't see the end of their reign for anything that wasn't required."

"You would rather we alienate the rest of the world so that when the Circle's reign does end they'll come in to plunder and pillage our children's children?" Silver's voice sounded amused as it preceded her down the hall.

"That's awful short-sighted of you," Youta smiled at the elder youkai ahead of the group.

"Why would it have to end?" Jasper simpered winningly. "With Silver at the helm, how could it end?"

"Because Mama is only one person in a group, and I don't see Trank living more than four hundred years into the future," Rissy giggled.

"Impudent scamp!" Trank rounded on the girl with mock outrage.

"The point is," Kagome chuckled. "Nothing lasts forever. The Circle cannot remain forever the same. Some of us will age, mature, and grow old."

"Some of us will leave," Kouga continued for her. "Through age, through experience, through death."

"The dynamic of the Circle will change, and some day the people may need something else to govern them," Steve finished.

"So you see, Jasper," Silver added gently, "We are trying to provide a safety net for an uncertain future. However distasteful you may find the political throng in that room, they represent the world we live in and the wise do not antagonize the elements of their environment."

"Fine, but I still don't think we needed to do this now!" Jasper declared.

Silver tweaked his nose, "Plan for tomorrow's disasters today and the clean up will be that much easier. Now you get in that ballroom and charm the uncharmable and we'll enter in a few minutes.

"Don't forget to scope things out for possible threats. We wouldn't want our first public entrance interrupted by violence," Trank ordered him.

Silver shook her head after him before her eyes alighted on Sesshoumaru. He stared at her in her finery. She wore a simple gown that bared her shoulders and flowed elegantly down the length of her. Her dark hair was up with coils of styled curls artfully placed to accent her face and his mark, the one that let everyone know she was his, was covered by a thick ribbon wrapped around her neck. But he wasn't looking at her clothes. Silver could wear a burlap sack and still take his breath away simply because she was Silver.

"C'mon you guys, we've got to wait for Jasper to make his circuit of the ballroom before going in. Let's go wait in the lobby and harass the clerk," Rissy's voice raised in mischievous intent.

Youta and Toji chuckled, "Boys, don't encourage her!" Ayame trailed after her sons. "That poor guy is harried enough."

"I think you almost had him in tears yourself, Ayame," Trank pointed out.

"I did not!"

The noise faded as the group retreated for the moment.

"Rissy is determined to give you your moment," Silver offered Sesshoumaru a soft smile. "You've made her quite happy, you didn't have to put up with her frequent calls."

Sesshoumaru growled, "Any pup of mine should expect me to listen when they talk." Did she think he wouldn't want to talk to his pup?

Silver raised her hand to stall his anger. "I merely meant that even her most devoted family can find her exuberant personality a bit wearying from time to time. You were always very good about letting Rin talk as much as she wished." Not that he had ever particularly listened.

"Rin is here," he informed her.

"Is she?" Silver smiled with genuine interest. "I'll be sure to talk with her then. She must have found herself a very special god. I can't wait to meet who she picked for herself."

"What makes you think I didn't do the picking?" he demanded. It was the way back then after all, not that it actually happened that way to be honest.

Silver paused to study him before nodding, "Rin did the picking," she declared decisively. "Nobody would be good enough for your little girl."

"Not buying that, hmm?" he smiled wryly. Sesshoumaru could feel the color flow into his eyes as Id came to the fore in order to be with Silver.

Silver watched with unworried calm. "Are you going to be able to handle yourself?" she asked quietly. It would be a good thing to address this problem before anyone else realized it was a problem. It was obvious to her that Sesshoumaru wouldn't want his personality issue to become common knowledge and she wouldn't expose it. If other political powers knew of Sesshoumaru's "handicap", they might use it against him or even try to displace him. The power shift it would result in would hurt a lot of people, human and youkai and Silver was against that.

"We should be fine so long as we are near you," he said with difficulty.

"You couldn't speak before," she observed.

"Rissy often called when Id was in control. He preferred to allow us to speak rather than upset her with his silence," he enunciated carefully. It was like trying to talk after having his mouth numbed. "Id is opening up slightly. I'm finding Id is very good about being considerate of those he cares about."

Silver nodded, "He certainly would be," she smiled tiredly. "You should be able to follow me around after the opening speeches. We're expected to mingle and make ourselves approachable. You can't hold my hand or be overly familiar, it's against your commonly perceived personality, but you can pursue me. I almost wish you would, I'm bound to be hounded by the largest bunch of would be suitors," she rolled her eyes with annoyance and sucked down a deep breath before squaring her shoulders. "I suppose it can't be helped. I hope Rin won't mind acting as a shield for about fifteen minutes at some point."

"To see you? I think she would beat away a pack of sharks," he smirked winsomely.

"Not likely to happen on land, but a good metaphor all the same. Personally I think Politicians are more like vultures or hyenas myself," she muttered.

"I was not aware you had any experience with politicians," Sesshoumaru pondered. True, Silver had been running two continents with the Circle, but most of the "politicians" had been killed off with the rulers sixteen years ago. And none of the Circle had made official contact beyond the continents since they first established their power.

"If traveling around with you for a year didn't expose me to enough of them I was abandoned for political reasons and checked up on periodically in hopes I had magically become something more politically acceptable." Silver informed him blandly. "But that is a story for another time."

"I'm sorry," he offered, not quite sure just why he apologized.

Silver dismissed it with a shake of her head. "You need to get in there and settle into place before you manage to ruin all our careful planning to appear impartial."

"Jaken is in there too," he stalled, trying o win more time with Silver before he had share her with the rest of the unmated world.

"Then you'd best go sit with him," silver wasn't having any of it.

Sesshoumaru whined pitifully.

"We'll be in soon enough and then you can scare off some of my suitors," She smiled with amusement. He shook his head before turning to face the massive evil of his rotten peers. Some days he wished he'd been as rash and reckless as Inuyasha, then he wouldn't have a territory to govern…Oh wait, Sesshoumaru paused, Inuyasha _did_ have a territory to run.

He located Rin and Jaken before threading his way through the tables to their table.

"I was wondering when you would show up," Rin smiled. "Did you have your private moment the lady?"

"Never could get anything past you," Sesshoumaru mumbled affectionately.

"I was trained by the best," she beamed.

"That she was," Jaken muttered. "The lady was most observant. I often thought she had a sense about things. It's a skill that must come in handy working with that crazy bunch."

"I imagine so," Rin laughed, "especially when you throw in all the kids that tag-a-long."

"And they're expecting more too," Jaken referred to Ayame's pregnancy.

"I'd say they're expecting more than that if they intend to have more of their people mated by the end of the event," Manitoya observed with a chuckle. "You might think they were trying to reinforce the image of how well the territory is doing. Not too many rulers would promote their desire to build a family when times are hard."

"I hadn't thought of that," Rin blinked, "when do you think Kagome will start showing?"

"I wasn't aware Kagome was breeding," Sesshoumaru commented blandly.

"She might not be, but I expect she will be soon," Rin grinned. "She's at that point where her baby's no longer a baby and Ayame's going to have a baby to remind her how wonderful that feeling is, I wouldn't be surprised if she and Inuyasha weren't already working on it."

"I don't even want to think about another Beni running around," Jasper declared as he approached the table.

"Why not? He's adorable," Rin gushed.

"Yes I am!" The child in question jumped out from under the tablecloth.

"Beni!" Yume scolded the boy. "You're not supposed to sneak around under the tables, it's not polite."

Beni made a face at her and scampered over to Rin. "You're my new cousin! How come I never met you before?"

"I got lost for a long time," Rin answered simply.

"I got lost once. I couldn't find mama. I looked and looked but still couldn't find her," Beni frowned.

"Then what happened?" Rin asked dutifully.

"Daddy found me and we found mommy together!" Beni concluded happily.

"Well that's wonderful!" Rin exclaimed.

"What about you?" Beni asked.

"Well my daddy found mommy without me," Rin explained, "but mommy was busy. So he came and got me so I could come to where she was to see her."

"My mama's busy a lot too, but it's because she loves me. And She loves Yume and Youta and Toji and Rissy and all the kids at the playground, even the mean ones," Beni offered in comfort. "Mommy and daddy and Aunt Sil and Nanny Train and Horstee and Aunt Aya and uncle Kouwoof all love everybody so much. They're busy keeping the world safe for us, for when we grow up." Rin blinked, her tears tearing up at the warm sentiment expressed by the boy. "Maybe that's why your mommy was so busy too, because she loves you so much. Right Yume?" the boy looked to his other cousin.

"Of course Beni," Yume nodded her eyes shiny with emotion. "We are loved. Always and forever, sometimes more than we deserve, but always without reservation."

"You're so smart," Rin squeezed Beni gently. "Who told you that?"

"Nobody had to tell us, it was understood," Beni declared. "But Aunt Sil said it best."

"Aunt Silver is very good at that sort of thing," Yume nodded. The girl glanced at the cat youkai lounging in a chair, "Have you finished your circuit yet?" she demanded.

"What is this? I'm being hounded by a twelve year old!" Jasper couldn't believe this.

"Well we wouldn't have to if you did your job," Yume sniffed. "Our parents and extended family are repeatedly putting their lives on the line so people like you can sleep safe at night. The least you can do is help see that we aren't orphaned by your negligence."

"Yeah!" Beni joined in.

"If something happens to our parents we'll be sure to follow you wherever you go," Yume warned him.

"And I'll kick you with my best kicking shoes!" Beni announced.

"All right, all right! I'm going," Jasper got up.

Yume stared after him with her hands on her hips, "What does he think its all power and luxury to rule two continents? It's hard work and I'll not have my mom and dad getting hurt because he was slacking off! Especially not with the baby on the way and liable to get hurt too!" The twelve year old growled just thinking about it. "If Rissy were here she'd rip him a new one!"

"Maybe we should tell her," Beni suggested.

"After they get here we'll be sure to tell her," Yume agreed.

"There's no fear for the Americas if you help to run it someday," Rin declared warmly.

"That's the idea," Yume smiled shyly. "We'll do as good a job as our parent, right Beni?"

"Someday," the boy nodded.

"Beni we better get back," Yume told the younger child. "The Circle is about to come in and you know how upset our moms will be if we're not where we're supposed to be."

"Bye-bye," Beni climbed out of Rin's lap. "Yume, race."

"Beni! Slow down, we're not supposed to run," the ookami cub called after him before breaking into a run herself.

"Yume certainly is an informed little girl," Jaken observed.

"She simply wishes to be able to help whenever she can," Sesshoumaru commented. "A girl her age can't offer much in the way of strength or experience so she listens and learns so she can offer knowledge in stead."

"But she's still a little girl," Jaken repeated.

"And she knows it," Manitoya pulled Rin closer to kiss her forehead. "Ayame and Kouga have done a wonderful job as parents. Yume realizes she is still young and well aware of how lucky she is. She's in a hurry to be of help, but not to grow up. She's happy to be little while she's still allowed to be little and she's not afraid to practice the roll she has decided will be hers in the future."

"She's too young to have made such a decision," Jaken protested. "I bet her parents are pushing her to take over."

Manitoya laughed at him, "You weren't paying attention. Yume said they were loved without reservation. Her parents don't pressure her to be anything more than the best she can be at whatever she chooses to do."

"It's so rare to find a warm and loving family in a position of power," Rin smiled. "Perhaps that is why the continents have done so well."

"You may be right," Jaken agreed. "I suspect the inner circle view the people of their territory like extended family of a sort."

"It's probably Silver's doing," Rin shrugged.

"Speaking of Silver," Sesshoumaru nodded towards the door. "It appears they are about to start."

"Silver looks good," Jaken muttered.

"Tell us who all these people are, please," Manitoya requested quietly.

"Silver is the one out front in the pale blue," Rin answered.

"Steve is her dark haired escort," Sesshoumaru declared. "Behind them are Trank and Toji according to Rissy. Next is Youta and you know Rissy. Bringing up the rear are Kagome and I'm sure you know which one is my brother followed by the very pregnant Ayame and her mate Kouga."

"Rissy's changed her coloring to match her mother," Jaken chuckled.

"What is her natural coloring?" Rin asked as she watched the procession.

"Remarkably like her father's I'm told," Jaken glanced at Sesshoumaru. "She tells me that's why she can pull off so many of the more difficult colors without too much effort."

"It's probably a good thing she didn't revert to her natural color then," Manitoya murmured. "With Inuyasha in the group it might appear that she was his and cause all sorts of trouble."

"Probably right," Jaken agreed as the group made it to the stage set up in the front of the ballroom.

Sesshoumaru wasn't really paying attention to the conversation going on around him, and he wasn't really focusing on the words said during the general address of the room. Nothing important was ever said during the welcoming ceremonies and it was difficult to divide his attention for too long while Id was so close to total control. The taiyoukai was perfectly content just to watch Silver talk.

The Silver he used to know wouldn't have been able to look so poise. She would have been fidgeting and constantly moving about. She preferred some kind of movement or activity to standing in one place for any reason. The old Silver couldn't stand inactivity; she had to be doing something.

But Silver had lived a little more; her preferences may or may not have changed, leading her to learn how to hold herself in stillness. And she had learned to smile like she meant it even when he was certain she didn't.

Id didn't like that Silver had been forced to change like this. Id didn't like that her life had been pounded into a shape he was certain had never been desired by Silver. Silver had wanted nothing more than the freedom to be who she was instead of who others wanted her to be.

Sesshoumaru growled before he could stop the sound from escaping. Thankfully, it hadn't been loud enough to disturb more than his immediate neighbors.

Rin reached over to squeeze his hand, drawing his attention from the stage. "Isn't Silver beautiful?" she whispered for his ears only. "She did what she said she would just like she always has. Nobody could be more beautiful than someone who is wonderful inside and out." His little girl smiled towards the stage, "Look at the people she's surrounded by. I bet she chose each of them to help her and they were honored by her choice because they know how wonderful she is. I think they all try to lighten her load as much as possible."

Sesshoumaru gazed back at the stage and studied all of them carefully. They watched the crowd attentively, ready to jump for cover should the need arise. Steve had his hand discretely pressed against the back of Silver's shoulders, giving her strength, keeping her steady, and ready to pull her from harm in the face of a threat. This group worked well together. They understood each other. They stood ready for danger while appearing to dismiss the possibility. They'd prepared to go public.

"I'll bet you Silver continually frustrates them," Rin chuckled soothingly in his ear. "They try so hard to make her life easier and at every turn she finds more to be done."

Yes, Id admitted, that was like Silver. Anything that had to been done to Silver was something she'd probably demanded in order to get to this point. She'd said she would save the other little girls like Rin who didn't have someone to protect them and she did it, no matter the sacrifice or the pain involved.

Silver was a tower of strength. And she'd been wise enough to call for help when she needed it.

Sesshoumaru managed to sit quietly through the rest of the speeches without further difficulty. The lights came on and people began to move about. The hotel staff started inconspicuously removing tables to open up space for the Circle to mingle and meet their guests. The previously ravaged buffet was refreshed and the heavy talking began.

A false soprano voice called Sesshoumaru's name insistently and Rin and Jaken groaned while the youkai in question cringed internally. Manitoya merely shook his head with carefully veiled disgust. Not a one of them could stand this particular youkai, but Serafina was determined she would sin Sesshoumaru's attention and suit. Nothing would deter her.

"I was almost afraid you wouldn't appear, darling," Serafina fairly squealed.

Sesshoumaru had never once offered her any encouragement. Her posing and clinging set his teeth on edge and Serafina's false sweetness made him nauseous.

"These Americans are so lacking in etiquette and refinement," she declared as a way to begin conversation. "You know they only sent two people to meet us at the airport? What were they thinking?"

"Perhaps they were intending to implement efficiency over frivolity," Serafina's twin brother suggested from slightly behind her. "Some people believe substance to be more important than appearance."

"Good evening Raoull," Sesshoumaru nodded. Despite Serafina's cloying habits her brother wasn't a bad sort. He was a bit of a scholar and given to deep thought. "Has your father attended also?"

"No, father stayed home. Mother's condition has worsened over recent months," Raoull replied.

"Are you to negotiate for trade in his place then?" Manitoya asked politely over Serafina's continued dissection of all the Americans faults of etiquette.

"Father does not think I am capable of something so important," Raoull answered darkly. "I am merely to play court to the female father felt I could handle."

"Oh dear," Rin sighed. "Which one is it?"

"The youngest, Silver I believe," Raoull replied without enthusiasm. "And Serafina is to watch me to make sure I do it."

"Oh Raoull," Rin cried in sympathy.

"Father is certain she couldn't be the lord, but she's certainly important enough for me. And he feels that she's the most likely to be swayed by my – what was it?" he paused in thought, "ah yes, my 'stupid brooding and penchant for flowery words.'"

"Sounds to me like you don't much care for your father's opinion," Silver's warm voice startled everyone in the conversation.

"You may be right mother," Rissy stood on her mother's arm. "But with an opinion like that who would want it. I imagine his father just doesn't understand him." The teenager grinned impishly, "See mama, I told you I could find Rin for you, quick as a wink."

"So you did," Silver smiled pleasantly. "How's my first little girl?"

"Oh Silver Dollar! I missed you!" Rin rushed forward to hug her tightly.

"I hope you're not too mad at me," Silver kissed the top of her head.

"Never," Rin Declared. "I could never be mad at you. After all, you didn't have to give me as much as you did to begin with."

"Nonsense. How could I give any less?" Silver stepped back to gaze at Rin. "Now I think you should introduce me to your mate. I'm certain he's someone I should know."

Rin giggled and stepped back in to the circle of her mate's arms. "Silver meet Manitoya. Manitoya meet the famous Silver Dollar."

"Pleased to meet you," Silver nodded.

"The pleasure is all mine," the ice god replied with warmth. "It's always a pleasure to meet more family."

"Isn't it though?" Rissy laughed. "Okay you know Jaken and Sesshoumaru, so mama this is Raoull and Serafina, they're the representatives from the Iberian Peninsula."

"Ah," Silver nodded. "How is your mother? I hear she's not been getting out much."

"Mother is absolutely fin and none of your business," Serafina snubbed her interest. She didn't like that this strange woman had unknown ties to _her_ Sesshoumaru. Silver's eyebrows rose in amusement.

"Mother is ill. We can't seem to figure out what is wrong, though we do still hope for her recovery," Raoull answered in apology. His sister's short temper and jealous nature could reflect badly on his people. Silver was a member of the ruling circle over the largest territory in the world. It would be bad to offend her over much. Wars between youkai territories were not pleasant and much avoided by most sane rulers.

"I'm terribly sorry if I've upset you. I certainly wish her well," Silver smiled gently, completely taking him by surprise. She didn't seem offended by his sister in the least. "Mothers are very important in our lives, it's a terrible time when one's mother falls ill."

"I don't know what I'd do if you ever got sick," Rissy murmured.

"Probably demand that I stop faking it," Silver replied and Rissy laughed.

"You're probably right," Rissy smiled good-naturedly. "If you'll excuse us, we have to move on. Mama has so many people to meet, and the suitors are jawing at the bit already." She pulled her mother from the friendly knot of people and moved on.

Silver glanced over her shoulder and offered her excuses before giving Sesshoumru a barely noticeable nod. "If you'll excuse me," he muttered to his party.

"Good luck," Rin whispered before engaging Raoull in a conversation to distract him.

"Sesshoumaru, where are you going?" Serafina whined with a tug on his arm.

Sesshoumaru discreetly rolled his eyes and shook her off to move on.

He should have paid more attention because the moment Serafina figured out what he was about she shot past him and shoved Silver forcefully. "I don't know what you think you're doing here. It's absurd for a human to be a part of a ruling circle over youkai." Serafina screeched. "Leave, there's no place for you here. So what if you slept with a youkai once. You're not youkai. You are not accompanied by a youkai mate, Get out!"

Silver stood passively as Serafina's tirade drew to an end amidst utter silence. "I believe you have challenged me and my right to be here," she spoke evenly. "Am I correct? Is that what she said?"

"I heard a challenge," one of the representatives from Australia spoke.

"I heard it too," a representative from Northern Russia agreed.

"What level challenge?" Silver demanded.

"You're not worth more than first blood," Serafina spat.

"I wouldn't suggest it," Silver replied evenly.

"I call first blood challenge!" Serafina declared.

"As you wish," Silver agreed.

"Will you oversee this challenge, Clarence?" she asked a gentleman from a territory known for its neutrality.

"If you have need of me," he nodded agreeably. "Prepare yourselves." Silver kicked off her shoes and removed her elbow length white gloves. Serafina just stood and laughed, certain of her victory against the 'human'. "Begin."

Silver raced across the space faster than the eye could see and knocked Serafina end over end and into a table that hadn't yet been taken down. Silver stalked across the floor, grabbing a white linen napkin off another table, one that hadn't yet been cleared and dabbed the napkin on Serafina's face despite the stupid youkai's attempt to flinch away.

Silver raised the pristine white napkin now stained with red. "You called first blood, first blood is drawn. I stay, you leave," Silver stood up fully. "Jasper, have some of the hotel staff escort Serafina to the airport and place her on a plane home. She is no longer welcome at this event."

Serafina was hauled up from the wreckage of the collapsed table none too gently. "What about my brother, Raoull?" she asked in a frightened voice. The seemingly helpless human had been revealed to have deadly teeth; her world had been turned upside down.

"If Raoull shares your opinion, he may leave also, but if he doesn't, I don't see why he should be punished for your folly," Silver declared flatly, her eyes colder than the ice sculpture melting on the buffet table.

"I do not share my sister's foolishness," Raoull spoke in a voice that carried through the room. Frankly, under normal circumstances, he thought his sister the stupidest creature to walk the planet. Today she'd just proven herself dumber than the rocks that bugs pee on. "But I will apologize for her actions," he declared with a sigh. He always had to do that.

"Her actions are her own," Silver replied. "I am afraid it is I who should apologize to my guests for so disrupting the evening."

"There's no need," Clarence declared with amusement. "Every party requires some excitement." He and a group of stodgy old gentlemen chuckled warmly at the situation. "We wait with baited breath for the negotiating tables tomorrow if you opening ceremonies are so spirited."

Their amusement spread and Silver sighed. The party resumed its course and Sesshoumru was certain there had never been a more hellish evening as more and more suitors for Silver stepped forth after her display.

She had proven to be youkai in speed and strength and that had raised her in the eyes of the previously confused throng. After all, Silver certainly appeared human to every sense.

Eventually the party ended and people disbursed. Just as Silver had promised, Sesshoumaru had been able to stand near her most of the evening, though he couldn't see any of her suitors being scared off by his marked interest.


	7. Swimming at Midnight

Okay, this is it! anothe of the great chapters from this fic. what happens here you ask? why lots of Silver Sesshoumaru action of course! Nothing like that you pervs!

All right, I'm planning my big move to happen either Saturday or Monday. What does this mean? Well, expect delays on Monday's posting. If I leave Saturday, depending on how much I feel like shoving in one day of driving, Monday's post could run a little late. If I leave on Monday (incredibly unlikely given that my mom plans to be back from her camping rip then) then this won't be a worry. Saturday's more likely departure time which is why Monday's post is likely to be late. I'll have to find a computer with internet when I get there.

But hey, you knew that was coming!

I can't wait to get out of here. I mean I know I'm kind of just bumming from one place to the other, but the job market up here is like a national low. I want a better job, and I'm not likely to find it sitting around here. There are so many people looking for work...

Anyways, as always, Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha Kagome, Kouga, Ayame, Jaken, Rin, and Shippou are not owned by me. Everyone else...well a girl needs practice doesn't she?

**Swimming at Midnight**

Three a. m. found Sesshoumaru wide-awake and ready to claw the fancy paintings from the wall. He couldn't sleep and he hated his room. Not that there was anything really wrong with the room, it was an upscale hotel and the suite had been tastefully decorated by a renowned interior designer like all the rest. The problem was that Silver was somewhere else, somewhere nearby and his blood thrummed with the painful awareness of that knowledge.

He really shouldn't stalk through the hotel looking for her. Their prior relationship was supposed to be secret after all and prowling through a building filled with the world's worst gossipmongers and blackmailers was bound to draw attention. Then again…

Sesshoumaru had made his interest in Silver very clear at the opening ceremonies. He _was_ supposed to be courting her. And if he should happen to meet her as he went on a stroll while possibly suffering from jetlag, no one would assume anything about the situation.

Having firmly talked himself into doing what he wanted to do, Sesshoumaru wasted no time leaving the confines of his room. His eyes flooded with red and the youkai was content to let Id take over. Id would find Silver and he so wanted to find her.

Id was incredibly attuned to that intangible and elusive sense that told him Silver was alive, she was near and only Id felt it acutely enough to know in what direction. Sure he could've tracked her down by scent, but it would have taken forever. The hotel was filled with entirely too many youkai and people for Sesshoumaru to chase her down quickly that way.

So he relied on an entirely different sense to find her, grateful to finally be able to use it for something.

And so he found her, amazingly in less than 15 minutes.

"The pool is closed," Silver's voice called out to him as he entered the indoor pool area of the hotel.

She had obviously sensed someone, but apparently she hadn't sensed that it was him. "So it is, and yet here you are, in the dark," Sesshoumaru replied.

He heard her sigh and climb out of the water," I should have known it was you," Silver muttered.

"Why are you here in the dark?" He had to ask, not that he couldn't see her just fine. The ceiling was transparent and let in the starlight very well.

"I was doing laps," she replied. "I hate to be inactive and the prep time for this whole she-bang has kept me indoors too long."

Sesshoumaru had to smile. Silver hadn't changed _that_ much. "So you can't sleep?"

"I don't sleep," Silver told him. "It's just tiresome to sit still so long, and it gets worse with all the extra energy bouncing around."

He could hear the water dripping on the floor where she stood. Her suit was a modest one piece, but it may as well have been a wetsuit for scuba diving for all he cared. "Do you feel better now?" She had presumably finished already if she had climbed out of the pool.

"Not really," she sighed and he frowned as he walked closer.

Sesshoumaru offered her a wicked grin, "I have an idea of how to get rid of all that energy." He had quite a few of them really.

Silver narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll just bet you do," she muttered.

Sesshoumaru stepped around her to grab up a towel and offer it to her. "I won't do anything you don't want me to," he promised.

"I couldn't let you do anything either way," Silver smiled softly. "Mating on the first day would be highly suspicious and terribly unpolitic."

"For someone who dislikes politicians so much, you certainly think like one," he pointed out as she used the towel on her long hair. When he'd first known Silver her hair had been much shorter than his, now the roles were reversed.

"There are too many people relying on me to play the game and to play it well," Silver shrugged as she draped the towel over her shoulders. "When my birth family still hoped for my magical changes, they made sure I learned what I would need to play the political scene."

"I imagine you hated that," Sesshoumaru said softly. "They were shallow people."

"Maybe, but it still hurt when they stopped checking on me every year," Silver declared as she sat on the edge of the pool and allowed her feet to dangle in the water.

"Was it so bad with your human family?" He was curious and wanted to learn more about her. Sesshoumaru wanted her to open up to him, to feel close to him. Mostly he wanted her trust and her love like he'd had so long ago.

"No, of course not, they were wonderful!" Silver brightened as she lifted one foot out of the water to watch the water drip back into the pool. "You know they used to come to this hotel for their anniversary every year. Two whole days in a fancy hotel where I didn't have to do chores. I used to look forward to it. I'd count down the days from Christmas to their anniversary. It was my biggest holiday." A nostalgic laugh exploded out of her mouth, "I remember they used to swim in the pool at midnight, which was completely against the rules. Mama used to say the way the water reflected the sky was like they were swimming in the stars. They'd bring up an old radio and play all the songs from their wedding," Silver smiled happily in remembrance and lay back on the tiled floor to stare straight up at the sky.

"Did they include you?" Sesshoumaru asked gently.

"When I could swim well enough to be trusted without a lifeguard," Silver replied. "They'd let me join them for an hour before sending me to bed. It's amazing to think they never stopped loving each other."

Sesshoumaru stared at her. She'd thought it amazing that the humans that had raised her, that had loved her, had never stopped loving each other the whole of their married life. But what was the length of a human life compared to that of a youkai? What was a human love compared to his need and hunger for Silver? And yet, they stood as her ideal.

Why did she consider her parent's love so amazing? Did she think that love that lasted so long was incredibly rare? Did it mean that she didn't love him anymore?

The thought terrified him and suddenly Sesshoumaru was desperate to touch her.

The inu youkai settled to the floor as he leaned forward to bury his nose in the hair behind her ear. Silver stiffened in surprise and he growled soothingly in her ear before leaning further over her to nuzzle her neck. His lips found the mark of his claim and licked the remaining water from the pocks in her skin left by his teeth on a similar night so long ago.

"Sesshoumaru?" she asked uneasily and he whined but didn't stop.

His hands came forward to entwine his fingers with hers. Sesshoumaru encouraged the towel to fall off her shoulder so he could bathe more of her skin with his tongue.

"Sesshoumaru," she called breathily and his whine went up a notch. Never once did his mouth break contact with her skin, he needed her taste and touch. "We shouldn't be doing this."

Sesshoumaru cringed before he forced himself to raise up high enough to look down into her eyes. He released one of her hands to pet her hair as he stared down at her. "What if I promise that we'll both remain as fully clothed as we are now?" he asked hopefully.

Silver laughed brightly as her eyes sparkled with genuine humor. "You know as well as I do that there are too many youkai in this building that would be able to smell too much of you on me."

He wondered if she realized that she looked like the old Silver just now. He wondered if she could see that she was only like this around him. He covered his thoughts with an artful pout he'd perfected as a pup. "You could just jump back in the chlorinated pool."

"But the pool isn't chlorinated," Silver pointed out.

"I had noticed that," Sesshoumaru glanced at the water. "Why is that?"

"This is a youkai hotel," Silver shrugged. "A lot of youkai can't handle all those chemicals used to treat pool water so we use something different. It's part of why we chose to hold this event here."

"But you said your human family brought you here," Sesshoumaru blinked down at her puzzled.

"My birth family were influential politicians so my family was granted two days here every year for taking me in," Silver explained. "Their visits here might've extended their lives if they hadn't been killed."

"Why?"

"We have a team of water sprites come in to purify and treat the water," Silver answered. "Because of that, the pool has taken on some healing and preservative powers."

Sesshoumaru glanced back at the water over her body and noticed a scar that ran down her thigh. "What happened?" He nodded to indicate the old wound.

Silver glanced down her body at her leg. "The year before they finally gave up on me, my shallow birth family thought perhaps if I were in an environment surrounded by youkai it would trigger the desired change," she shook her head as she gazed back up at him. "It certainly triggered something. My first night in a strange place didn't go too smoothly. My caretaker grew rather tired of my constant crying." She shrugged and looked away. "It must've been the smell because I was very quiet. She left me alone. Nearly two hours later a particularly cruel and distant relation I'd never met found me alone and crying." Silver's eyes dilated in memory and he squeezed her hand. "Let's just say I was lucky Trank took her job to watch over me seriously. Nobody else came running when I started to scream."

Sesshoumaru growled and leaned down to kiss her forehead comfortingly. "Then what happened?" he asked quietly.

"Trank took me home," Silver answered. "It took months of intense physical therapy to get me back on my feet and it was nearly a year before I lost the limp."

"What happened to your attacker and the bitch that abandoned you?" he demanded as gently as he could.

"Trank told me my temporary babysitter was dismembered," Silver replied tonelessly. "I cried."

"And your distant cousin?" he prompted.

"My parents only succeeded in having him banned from the property and my presence. Trank managed to partially geld him before she raced me home," Silver responded. Sesshoumaru growled, the bastard had deserved much worse. "He's dead now, so it doesn't matter."

She was right, there was no need for further punishment. You can't kill the dead, barring undead mikos. Sesshoumaru leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

"Really Sesshoumaru," Silver chuckled. "You need to behave yourself."

"I am behaving myself," he muttered peevishly. What could she possibly be talking about now?

"Uh-huh and where is your hand?"

Sesshoumaru blinked down at her sullenly before actually checking his hands. One was brushing at her cheek to help hold her in place. The other… "Oh," he flushed with embarrassment. His hand was definitely someplace it shouldn't be.

He stared at his hand trying to convince it that it really wasn't resting in the perfect place. It flexed in defiance causing Silver to shudder under him, making it all the more difficult to enforce his self-discipline. But he'd taken more than she'd offered once before and it had caused him 500 years of pain, he refused to let that happen again.

Finally, Sesshoumaru convinced himself to let go and Silver slid out from under him and sat back up. "Sorry," he muttered, berating himself for such a lack of control.

"Apology accepted," Silver responded quickly before offering him a shy smile. "It's actually kind of flattering to be able to break you legendary self-control sometimes."

"It wasn't last time," Sesshoumaru replied darkly.

Silver blushed and turned from him, "Then it's flattering as long as it doesn't hurt."

Sesshoumaru laid along the pool's edge and placed his head in her lap so he could look into her face. She glanced at him in surprise before smiling gently. "You did this last time," she told him.

"I can smell you best here," he replied. "There's so much of you wrapped so closely around me. And I can look into your face from here. The only thing better than this would be to join with you the way you won't let me."

Silver offered him a disbelieving smile. "You're incorrigible."

He smiled at her, "Only with you." It was her turn to pet his hair. "Talk to me."

"What about?" she asked as she traced one of his facial stripes with her thumb.

"When you contacted Kagome and Inuyasha to come help you," Sesshoumaru suggested. "They disappeared after you. Start there and tell me everything."

Silver chuckled, "Kagome and Inuyasha came through the well five months after I did. I was already home and well into my pregnancy with Marissa. I wanted to give them a chance to try and settle a bit before calling them. I wanted them to have a choice before I made my request."

"So you already knew you needed help," Sesshoumaru observed.

She cuffed him for the interruption before continuing. "It was more like I knew Marissa would need more than me for family. I found Trank or rather I never lost her, she never left. Actually she was the one to first figure out I was pregnant. I was too busy to really notice. Her and Steve signed on almost immediately to help me out."

"Where did Steve come from?" he asked curiously.

"Trank found him while I was gone. She hired him to help with the horses after my parents were killed. So after Marissa was about a month old I called Kagome to see how they were doing," Silver chuckled at the memory. "Inuyasha wasn't doing too well in the big city and they jumped at my offer to stay on a big plot of land in the middle of nowhere. They were both stunned to hear they had a niece and once they found out how much work I had to do, they demanded I let them help."

"It was good you were never left to raise Marissa alone," Sesshoumaru tucked her hair behind her ear.

"It wouldn't have been a problem. It was combining raising Marissa with trying to establish a new government where seventeen had once been that was tough," Silver grinned. "We managed to pick up some more help when we were touring sectors and stumbled across Kouga and Ayame and their pack. Their family has been a total life-saver. Kouga and Ayame's brood could run the continents with no problem if they were all of a mind to do so. Unfortunately only the two oldest sons and the parents are interested."

"What made you think to let them help?"

"Kagome and Kouga have kind of a past. Nothing particularly serious but he had a crush on her for the longest time and Kagome was too nice to out and out crush him flat. It annoys Inuyasha to this day, but they knew each other. That and Kouga was vying for the top spot against this other youkai in sector 4. Inuyasha goaded Kouga into helping us out in Sector one and we convinced the other youkai to watch that sector for us," Silver shrugged. "Ayame came with him and Kagome was familiar with her also. After a couple of years, Toji and Youta started helping us out too."

An alarm started beeping and Sesshoumaru jumped. He growled with displeasure, he hated all the electronic noises of this era. All the buzzing and the beeping just got on his nerves something awful.

"You'll have to get up," Silver tapped his shoulder. "I need to get dressed and go spend my time watching security."

Sesshoumaru growled with discontent and proceeded to roll off her lap and into the pool. He'd forgotten he was right on the edge. The youkai came up sputtering and dripping mad.

Silver's surprised face melted into helpless laughter. "I can't believe you," her words drowned in a fresh wave of laughter.

He growled and grabbed her wrist to drag her from the edge and into the pool. Her quiet protest was cut off as she went under.

She came up coughing and laughing as he proceeded to chase her around the pool. "Sesshoumaru, I'm going to be late!" she protested between fits of laughter.

Sesshoumaru had the biggest smile in his heart, despite his soggy clothing and shoes. He chased her out of the pool and paused to shake the excess water off. A towel landed in his face and he heard her giggle as she grabbed up a towel for herself.

Her giddy laughter had left a rather becoming flush on her skin and he growled his appreciation as she toweled herself off once again. Silver picked up the watch that had beeped before and grimaced as she put it on. "I'm not going to have time to change first," she muttered, before slipping into a terry cloth robe and a pair of slippers.

Sesshoumaru draped a towel over his shoulders and tried to wring as much moisture out of his clothes as possible before following after the woman in the bathrobe, squelching all the way.

Silver burst into giggles at the rhythmic noise of his soggy shoes in the nearly silent hush of the hotel hallway.

Sesshoumaru smirked smugly; content to be stuck in wet shoes so long as it made her laugh.

"Don't you think you should go change your clothes?" Silver asked trying to stem her laughter.

"I think I'd better escort you to security first," he declared. "I wouldn't want somebody attempting to take advantage of you."

Silver looked down at herself and laughed. "You may be right."

"I know I'm right, I'm always right." He smirked some more before reaching out to snag a wet lock and tug on it gently. "You look like you just got out of the shower."

"Hmm, I suppose so," Silver smiled. "And I'd hate to have to beat some poor idiot up for being unable to control himself."

"Somebody like Jasper," Sesshoumaru growled.

"Rissy has him firmly leashed," Silver shook her head. "I'd like to see him try to get one by her with Beni and Yume out spying for her."

"They do make wonderful agents," Sesshoumaru chuckled.

"You have no idea," Silver muttered.

"You probably should have sent the two of them out to scare some people off," he allowed himself to grin.

"They wouldn't have been particularly effective," Silver shook her head. "Beni is too cute and Yume is a bit too timid for meet and greet. Most likely the only reason she talked to you was because Kagome introduced you."

"Then I'll have to thank Rin," Sesshoumaru murmured. "She was the one they were talking to."

"Rin and Kagome are quite a lot alike," Silver observed. "I hadn't realized just how much until I started working closely with Kagome. And I think Inuyasha would have always fought to protect Rin, whether you believe it or not."

"I'll not doubt you, though I cannot figure how you can be so sure," Sesshoumaru smiled at her softly.

"Inuyasha holds a lot of respect and admiration for you, though he hides it well," Silver shrugged. "He doesn't always agree with the things you've done and his personality practically demands that he challenge you, but if he ever had to protect you from anything he would. And he would do so for Rin because she is your family." She tightened the sash of her robe. "Some of it has to do with Kagome's influence, but under that I think Inuyasha has spent a lot of time where there was little he could call his own. He learned early what was truly important, and family, even family he doesn't get along with is precious to him." She glanced at him with a smile. "Has he ever denied that you were his brother?"

Sesshoumaru dissolved in thought. Everything she'd said had made some kind of sense and deep down he'd already known it. He'd just needed Silver to put it into words and draw out the logical conclusion.

"What would I do without you to think for me?" he exhaled noisily.

"Oh please!" she scoffed. "You've been able to think for yourself far longer that you've known me."

"Apparently I have been rather bad at it if I had not been able to figure out what you just told me," Sesshoumaru replied lightly.

"Don't be silly!" Silver snorted. "You know. You always knew, even if it wasn't something you thought about or could put into words."

"Now you are giving credit for Knowledge you can't prove I had," Sesshoumaru responded sardonically.

"Then why didn't you throw a fit when you found out Inuyasha had been with me for fifteen years? Because you knew he had looked after me like a second mother hen I didn't need," Silver poked him in the arm. "It's the same reason you let Inuyasha disappear after me. You could have imprisoned him until he told you where I was, you could have threatened his friends to get him to talk. Instead you let him go because you knew that you couldn't follow me, but Inuyasha could so you let him go knowing that he would look out for me if he could."

"I hadn't realized I thought things through so thoroughly at the time," Sesshoumaru mumbled as he stole her hand to hold in his."

"Maybe you didn't," Silver shrugged. "But I'm certain Id knew."

They stepped on the elevator in the lobby. Silver hit the down button.

"You are probably right," he replied softly. Sesshoumaru dragged her hand up to kiss her palm. It would be completely cross-purpose to try and alleviate her faith in him.

The elevator came to a rest and dinged as the doors opened. Silver drew her hand away as she stepped out into the hall. It was even quieter here than it had been in the hotel proper.

The squelch of his shoes echoed down the hall, highlighting the lack of conversation. It felt unnatural for Silver to be so quiet. He missed the constant sound of her voice. It was becoming apparent that if he wanted to hear her speak he would have to start a conversation, something he had very little experience with.

"I should apologize for Serafina's outburst," Sesshoumaru blurted out the first thing that came to his head. Hopefully Id knew what he was doing.

"Why? You certainly didn't tell her to act like a jackass," Silver shrugged. "We already knew she was likely to be a problem. Her amorous intentions towards you are almost common knowledge and were included in our file on her."

"What?" Sesshoumaru blinked.

"We drew up files on all of our likely trouble makers," Silver answered. "There were several engagements broken off upon our announcement, only a fool couldn't see trouble was in store after that."

"But Serafina was never engaged to me in any way," Sesshoumaru wanted to be absolutely clear on this point.

She chuckled, "We knew, but we collected information on everyone and her attempts to court you for the last three hundred years was included. Serafina's determination was bound to cause turbulence, and we knew Raoull wouldn't object to her being ejected from the premises in the event she did cause trouble. He's most likely going to enjoy three days without his family lurking over him."

"You know he intends to court you," Sesshoumaru informed her.

"So do quite a few others," Silver pointed out. "We have files on each of them too."

"Raoull's probably half in love with you for sticking it to his sister," he growled.

"I imagine half of my suitors fancy themselves in love with me just based on my position of power and my display of youkai ability," she retorted acidly. She halted abruptly to glower at him while discreetly tapping the wall behind her.

A panel slid open to reveal a woman wearing black lipstick and a nose ring. "Hey Silver, right on time," the woman greeted her cheerfully before noticing the look Silver was giving her escort. "Oh my," time to lighten things up. "Is that what you normally wear while running security?"

Silver blinked and released her glare. "I was running a bit late, so I didn't stop and change. Do you think you could bring me down some clothes before turning in, Mira?"

"Sure, no prob," Mira answered.

Silver stepped into the opening in the wall. "Thanks," she smiled and stepped back to allow the panel to slide shut.

"Oh-ho!" Mira grabbed Sesshoumaru when he tried to follow Silver. "Hold up there bud. You're not allowed back there."

Sesshoumaru turned on her with a snarl.

Mira gave him a blank look. "I'm not impressed. Judging by your coloring and your habit for following Silver around, I'm guessing you're Maruhama. I'm sorry but none of Silver's suitors are allowed to follow her everywhere and not a one of our foreign delegates are authorized to go in there. It's not personal, just policy."

The inu youkai growled but turned back down the hall. He didn't like that Silver had left on such a bad note. He shouldn't have commented on the competition. Sesshoumaru was supposed to focus on Silver and no one else.

"C'mon, we can ride the elevator together," Mira walked down the hall. "So how do you think you measure up to the competition?" She started talking. "You two have history together and that's something none of the others have. Of course history could work against you as easily as the other way around so it really depends," she glanced at the demon squelching in the silence to see if he was paying attention. "I suppose it's kind of early in the game to tell just yet, but you've only got two more days."

Sesshoumaru growled, "This is not a game and Silver is not just some prize or sacrificial lamb. Mating is serious."

Mira laughed, "then you're doing good." She smiled at his confused look. "You are in earnest, you've thought beyond the immediate results and gains mating Silver would bring. How many others do you think are taking this seriously?"

Sesshoumaru blinked. Most of Silver's possible suitors were dazzled by her position and wealth. The only thing likely to detract from the perfection of a match with her was her apparent humanity, an illusion dispelled by the challenge after the opening speeches. Most likely very few had looked beyond the surface and the immediate gains to wonder, to imagine there was anything more to the woman called Silver.

Then he blinked as he settled onto the question of how this stranger would know that he had.

"All the public rooms in the hotel have a camera feed into the security room," Mira informed him. "The ballroom, dining room, lobby, and the pool are all under surveillance, especially if one of the unmated Circle members happen to be present. There are at least two watchers on security at all times."

Sesshoumaru blinked, "should you be telling me this?"

"I don't see why not," she shrugged. "None of what I've told you could be used against us." The elevator doors closed behind them as they boarded the car.

"Who is she with now?" Sesshoumaru wanted to know.

"My younger brother, Kori. He doesn't mind the midnight to 8 am shift much since he doesn't have to be up and about until late this evening when his band will be entertaining the guests. Silver says it's funny how us kids turned out. We're all so different in personality," Mira laughed. "Some people can't believe we're all related. Kagome insists our diversity is proof of our parent's adaptability. Inuyasha normally laughs at that."

"Why would he laugh?"

"He doesn't have a particularly high opinion of my father. Then again most people don't associate adaptability with Kouga," Mira chuckled.

"I hadn't realized so much of your family was involved in this event," Sesshoumaru said carefully. When Silver had said they could run the continents he hadn't realized she meant it.

"Normally we wouldn't be," Mira shrugged. "Kori's band has a relatively large local fan base, so he's pretty busy. I'm big into electronics so they called me in to supervise the transfers and installation of security. There are a few more of us around, but we're not interested in governing anybody but ourselves for various reasons. We're just pitching in to watch security while the Circle's busy playing hostess to all you political types." She shrugged.

Sesshoumaru shook his head but the elevator stopped on his floor before he could think of more questions. Just hearing of how much had been set up for this one event made him certain he was never going to hold anything of the sort in his own territory. It just plain wasn't worth the effort.


	8. Dinner Theatre

pssst, I didn't leave on Saturday, so... I'm leaving Monday! I figured since I was leaving (hopefully) very early tomorrow I might as well update a little early. what few readers I have will enjoy it, so why not?

the drive ahead of me is supposed to take about 22hours. It's the longest trip i've ever taken, but if I plan it just right, it could take just two days. (thank god, because it's going to be some kind of expensive anyway!)

I'm not sure how my internet situation is going to be when i get where i'm going, but I only need a library as I said before. In the meantime i'll do a bunch of writing. There is one more fanfiction i started a long time ago that I may or may not finish and post, other than that, I think I'll try something original. i have ideas, just no confidence. So we'll see.

As usual, sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Kouga, Ayame, jaken, rin, and Jaken are not mine. the list is too long to type up what characters are mine.

oh and the "little black rain cloud song" in the middle of the chapter is and actual song from Disney's Winnie the Pooh, Pooh sings it to distract the bees. I love it, and find it cheerful and soothing. good reasons for the use it finds in this chapter.

**Dinner Theatre**

There were only a handful of days in Sesshoumaru's memory that stood out as particularly hellish, and today was certain to join their number.

Originally it hadn't seemed as though the second day of this event could go so badly. The elevator conversation with another of Kouga and Ayame's get had left Sesshoumaru feeling somewhat positive and he had finally managed to get some sleep. Sleep that was al too quickly disturbed by a breakfast date with Rin.

He could never be truly upset to spend time with Rin, even if he had to forfeit sleep and the pleasantest of sweet dreams for it. Besides, his early morning family meal allowed him to spend time with more members of his family than expected.

Kagome and Inuyasha were in the hotel's dining room with their son Beni when he and Rin entered and the little boy insisted his new uncle and cousin join them. The boy surprisingly skipped climbing in Rin's lap for Sesshoumaru's and somehow managed to get greasy fingerprints all over the youkai's clothing despite his having eaten only cereal for breakfast.

Sesshoumaru retreated to his rooms to change his clothing promptly following the meal. Politics was based as much on appearance as on anything else and even _he_ couldn't afford to look grubby, as dear as the little prints had been. Yes, the inu youkai was finding he was quite fond of Inuyasha's son despite his penchant for mutilating names. It was entertaining to hear him speak of his less tolerable peers with so little consideration.

And he didn't mind having to change his clothes. It gave him a reason to avoid the massive shopping tour Rin was planning. Much as he loved her there was no way he would ever enjoy such outings. Now if it was Silver and he managed to lead her into a few certain shops…Sesshoumaru discarded the thought before Id could get a hold of it.

In any case, He simply hadn't wanted to leave the hotel for as long as Rin's shopping trips tended to last. The last thing Sesshoumaru wanted was to miss an opportunity to catch Silver in a moment alone.

It wasn't until after Rin had lead her poor condemned mate away that Sesshoumaru learned Silver was on security duty until noon. His disappointment was alleviated by the appearance of his other daughter. It was always a pleasure to spend time with his incredibly talkative pup and wonderfully stress free as well. Rissy didn't expect him to talk much and none of the other diplomatic parties were willing to subject themselves to her endless chatter in order to attempt their intrigues with him.

Lunch rolled around and he was certain to be present in the dining room despite a distinct lack of need for the food. All the respective suitors did. It seemed as though every party in attendance attempted to squeeze into the cramped space of the smaller room that was the dining room; Each vying for the attention of one circle member or another. If not for Rissy, he didn't know what he would have done.

For it was Rissy who manufactured a spot for him at the one table closest to where the circle sat. And all he could have wished beyond that was for better tablemates. Though the likelihood that any rival for the affections of Silver would be better than any other was slim. He just had a firm dislike of Jasper and a slowly growing aversion for Raoull. Despite them and Beni's wardrobe damaging new habit of eschewing other people to sit in Sesshoumaru's lap during meal times, Sesshoumaru could not realistically have wished for a better seat from which to watch the female of the hour.

It was how he knew she didn't eat a single bite. It was how he knew Rissy snuck food off her mother's plate to promote the illusion that Silver was actually dining. This was why Silver was so much thinner; she didn't eat. Sesshoumaru realized in the time that the meal was eaten and cleared away that he had never once seen Silver eat since he'd renewed their acquaintance.

He wanted to come up beside her and coax her to eat the way she should. He desired a moment alone with her just to ask where her appetite had gone. When he'd known her all those years ago, Silver had been known to habitually eat her own weight and more in one meal. It bothered him to see her like this and frustrated him even more that he couldn't do anything about it.

His frustration gave him a mammoth headache.

And that was before he was informed that there was absolutely no chance to steal a moment alone with the lady.

Silver and the rest of the inner circle plus Rissy were closeted in meetings with a string of delegates for the rest of the afternoon. They would meet briefly with each group and decide if trade was worth the effort. If it were, the inner circle would schedule more time for negotiations at a later date. If not, well the circle was always polite.

Not that it helped him any. The circle hadn't bothered to include him or Rin's mate in any of these meetings. He understood that, at least in the case of Rin and her mate, further contact would be forthcoming regardless of trade negotiations. Rin was family and family was important to the inner circle.

And he supposed he could look forward to the same treatment due to his blood ties to Inuyasha and Beni. And Rissy. So he would most likely continue to have some amount of contact with thinner circle of the Americas, his success in mating Silver irrelevant in this issue.

But that didn't help alleviate his frustrations in the here and now.

Spending time with Beni and Yumi could only distract him for so long, despite the anger the boy stirred up with his seemingly disrespectful name games and Yumi's stammering attempts to smooth things over. Upon Rin's return, she monopolized their attention and somewhat curbed the boy's entertainment value. And avoiding the political traps and pitfalls of his fellows was so well ingrained in his life he evaded each attempt with hardly a conscious thought dedicated to the effort. At least he did until Raoull appeared in his presence.

It was strange; Sesshoumaru had never harbored any serious dislike for the younger male before. Raoull had never been in a position to act as competition for anything. Now, the in youkai found himself miserably cataloging all of Raoull's many character traits that someone like Silver might find attractive and noticing how he, himself, possessed none of them.

This was not a particularly pleasant way to occupy the hours spent between that frustrating lunch and the late dinner where he would next see the mother of his pup. And it didn't help that Raoull looked about as listless and unhappy as Sesshoumaru felt, leading the youkai to believe the youth suffered the same ailment: a want of Silver's company.

Again Rissy came to his aid and made certain Sesshoumaru was seated at the table closest to the inner circle. Beni and Yumi had taken their evening meal earlier so their two seats were left open. The two chosen to fill them were Manitoya and Rin.

Detachedly he could easily understand the reasoning behind this, but Sesshoumaru still had to struggle to suppress the upsurge of jealousy he felt when they sat down in those coveted chairs. He was thankful Id stepped in to prevent him from doing something both embarrassing and detrimental to his cause. It wouldn't look good for him to express such an immature and selfish sentiment. He could only console himself with the thought that others had not managed to stifle their sounds of displeasure about it.

It did not save him from frowning at his tablemates. Again he was stuck in the offending company of Jasper and Raoull (though Raoull was more annoying than offensive and only because of his status as a rival.) Jasper mounted a partially successful campaign to piss off all of Silver's suitors and distract Sesshoumaru from his close study of the lady. Amazingly enough nothing said bothered Raoull, and all the distractions in the world couldn't compete with the ruckus Beni rose mere minutes after the meal began.

The boy came into the room screaming and sobbing, trailing a fretful teary-eyed Yumi behind him. The noise completely disrupted the ambiance created by the soft live music playing in the ballroom. Kagome got up and rushed to her son, scooping him up in her arms and immediately tried to soothe him. But Beni would have none of it, he didn't quiet; his tears didn't slow. Inuyasha joined his mate, trying to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. Nothing, it would seem, could soothe the child.

The hanyou sighed and glanced at his mate. Kagome merely nodded, completing the wordless communication from one parent to the other. Sesshoumaru watched that with envy. He was certain that he and Silver could've have communicated as easily had their been opportunity to develop it.

Inuyasha turned back to his table and quirked and eyebrow in the circle's direction leaving it a bit uncertain whom he was attempting to ask for help in this situation. Silver gave Inuyasha an apologetic smile as she climbed to her feet and approached Kagome and her wailing son.

She didn't take the boy from his mother as most would have. Instead she drew up beside them quietly, sneaking in under Beni's own noise so that he wouldn't notice her proximity. She reached out and sharply snapped her fingers to the side of the upset boy's head. Beni jumped and turned to look towards the sound in surprise, forgetting his noise making endeavors instantly. Silver drew her fingers inward until only her index remained extended from her palm. The boy's eyes tracked the solitary digit as it came closer to his face before landing on his nose, his tears absently stopping as his focus shifted outwards.

Silver then leaned in, bringing her face right next to his until the tip of her finger separated the two. She said something to him in a voice so soft and low it didn't drift past the triangles of his ears. Then she drew back and commanded him to "sing it" rather firmly.

Beni flushed under his drying tears and Yumi gave a watery giggle. "Just sing it Beni, you'll feel better."

"Then you can tell me about it after you've slept on it," Silver nodded. "Right now it's too fresh to make much sense right?" Beni frowned glumly. "Then sing it."

"You want me to sing it with you baby?" Kagome asked her son gently. Beni nodded into his mother's shoulder tiredly. "Okay then, but remember, you have to sing too. Here goes: I'm just a little black rain cloud, hovering under the honey tree. C'mon honey. You're supposed to sing too."

"I'm just a little black rain cloud, pay no attention to me," the boy tiredly sand the next line.

Inuyasha patted Beni's back as the two sang the last line together.

Silver smiled at them softly, "You two should probably go take care of him upstairs. I don't think anything too governmental will happen until after dinner."

Kagome smiled back, "Thanks, I really want to make sure he's all right."

"Completely understandable," Silver replied. "Job is pretty much done for the day, go be together for a while."

"Yumi, you want us to come up with you? Are you all right?" Kouga asked his youngest daughter.

"I'm fine, papa. I was just worried about Beni," Yumi answered with a tremulous smile.

"Are you sure baby?" Ayame asked.

Yumi grinned. "You're going to have to stop calling me that when the baby comes," she teased. "I'm all right," she bowed politely. "Sorry to interrupt dinner."

Silver chuckled, "As interruptions go, Yumi, this one wasn't so bad. Don't worry about it."

Yumi ducked with a sheepish smile, "Night."

"See you tomorrow," Silver nodded the girl out of the room. "How wonderful it was to be that young?" she asked of the entire room and was answered with ripples of quiet chuckling. Dinner resumed with a quiet murmur of conversation and the light music once again wove its calming magic about the room.

Jasper renewed his endeavor to ultimately enrage every member of the dinner party sitting at his table. "Imagine," the cat began a sentence Sesshoumaru just knew he wasn't going to like despite the innocuous beginning. "If Silver is so good with kids that aren't hers, just how perfect would she be with the product of her own body? Suddenly siring an heir to my name has taken on new pleasure. AS if the pleasure of creating such a perfect child wasn't enough."

It wasn't Sesshoumaru that knocked the neko unconscious, but he felt the satisfaction all the same. Somehow any pain dealt to jasper made everybody at their table feel better.

"He should not be talking about Silver so disrespectfully," Jaken muttered as he returned to his seat after rendering the youkai unconscious.

"I simply must concur," Joshua, the delegate from Australia that had spoken up the evening before nodded emphatically. "Though one simply must recognize the great honor having one's offspring raised by the lady would be, one shouldn't take the decision of who will be bestowed with that honor from the lady in question."

"Any child lucky enough to claim any kind of attachment to Silver is truly blessed," Jaken declared.

Joshua smiled, "As proven by the young Beni, Yumi, and of course, Rissy. One mustn't forget that some male has already been gifted with Silver as the mother to his pup, even if he did not see it."

"Oh yes, a blessing in truth," Raoull observed absently.

A commotion at Silver's table drew all the attention in the immense ballroom.

It appeared that an ill-dressed youkai was greatly unhappy with the entire circle as a whole, and Silver in particular. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes minutely, he didn't like where this was going.

"You're not fit to rule over a hay field, let alone two continents! The last daughter of the corrupt ruling houses could never be anything but as greedy and corrupt as all her blood was before her! You should have died with the rest of the false aristocracy!" the youkai continued to rant angrily. "No wonder you were hidden away, you hid behind your babysitters to survive and ran away in fear! And when did you come back? A year later to take up the reigns your kind had been forced to drop!"

Sesshoumaru's table was a sea of growls. No male can allow his future mate to be so insulted in so public a manner. What made it worse was that none of them had the right to do anything about it. And the situation was escalating.

He glanced over the members at the Circle's table to gage their reactions. Some were glaring heatedly at the slovenly youkai spouting off in favor of Anarchy. Some were appearing to calmly eat their meal. Silver was one of these which only served to further enflame her slanderer despite the fact that her food, despite its disappearing from the plate in front of her never seemed to actually reach her mouth. Because of this oaf, the Americas would never have to identify their lord; she was identified so long as even one person was paying attention.

Sesshoumaru spared a glance for Rin and Rissy. The one looked slightly perturbed and the other followed her mother's lead, maintaining the illusion that Silver actually ate. For a time it looked as thought the situation would actually blow over with no more than a few hot words slung about.

Then the fool youkai dared to trespass on matters left untouched. "Your human mother swore that she would protect you," the youkai scoffed smugly. "All she did was die. That's all humans are good for!" he sneered at Rin. "And she didn't die quickly, oh no. I made sure she lingered to witness the death of her husband and scream into the night."

Several tables leapt to their feet upon those words. If he was the one to kill Silver's human parents, then he was the one responsible for the political void she'd been forced to fill. The noise level rose to a deafening roar of anger and grief many of the guests felt on her behalf.

But Silver remained quiet. She rose to her feet slowly and deliberately cracked her silverware against her now empty plate, wordlessly demanding quiet.

The room reluctantly focused its attention on the host of the event. No sound was made as they waited for her next move with baited breath.

"What do you want?" she demanded icily.

The confessed murderer cackled at the question. "I challenge," he declared, oily dark and oozing. A murmur of surprise rippled through the crowded room. "I challenge your human mother's protection! I challenge your right to breath! Death Challenge!"

The room collectively drew breath at the rarely spoken words. Death challenges were exactly what they sounded like, you either won or you died.

Silver sighed tiredly before calling out to Kagome who had just entered the room in search of some forgotten item. "Do you think you could contain the mess Kagome?" She asked the human miko gently.

Kagome solemnly nodded, "tell me where and how large."

Sesshoumaru let out a growl as Silver lead the way to a clear space at the center of the room where the carpet ended to expose the shiny hardwood of the dance floor. He didn't like this. If she won, all her secrets would be exposed. The throng would know all her strengths and find ways to work around them. If she lost…

He couldn't even stand to think it. To lose her now, after finding her after five hundred years would be the end of him. There would be no living with the world if she died. The only thing that had kept him going was the feeling that she was alive somewhere in the world. There wouldn't even be that if she lost.

Sesshoumaru forced his way through the crowd that gathered around the freshly erected barrier.

"Start us off Kagome," came Silver's detached voice.

"Prepare yourselves," Kagome said. This time Silver didn't bother with her shoes. Instead her eyes took on a shining metallic quality that slowly spread across her skin until she looked like a silver statue. The other youkai blinked in well-concealed surprise. Nobody had expected anything like this. Kagome took a breath to start the combat.

She didn't even have a chance to say the word before the challenger had struck. Silver crashed to the floor like a puddle of mercury.

The bastard turned to the crowd to declare himself the victor. Sesshoumaru's heart squeezed in his chest. How could Silver have survived that? Silver's killer turned to the miko still holding the barrier in place.

"Let me out, human!" he demanded. "I have won this battle."

Kagome snorted, "If you think that was the mess Silver wanted me to contain you have another thing coming," the little miko informed him dryly.

The youkai didn't get a chance to reply. The silver splatter on the floor flew through the air like sharpened slivers of metal to slice through his body, turning him into so much pink mist. The slivers coagulated to reform the original silver statue streaked with blood. What remained of the challenger hit the floor lifelessly.

"This challenge is ended," Silver's voice sent a chill through any who heard it. "If you could hold the barrier until the staff have a chance to get her for clean up, Kagome, we'd be all set."

Slowly, Silver's color returned to normal. The youkai's blood continued to cling to her body and dress and her eyes were completely frosted over.

Silver had never taken death and killing well, he remembered. She would kill in defense, but she would always feel guilty afterwards. And it wasn't just any kind of guilt either; Silver didn't do things halfway. Her guilt could knock her off her feet and make her seriously ill. To her, all life was sacred and no life was more important than any other.

Sesshoumaru had once scoffed at her peculiarity. He had seen her stand passively as a youkai came after her and she made no move to strike back. He'd learned quickly that Silver would not fight for herself. She would defend someone, anyone else, but not herself.

She was not vengeful and she hated violence. Sesshoumaru had been forced to find some way around that so he wouldn't have to protect her himself. He hadn't really thought about why he cared at the time, but he had. In the end he'd convinced her to fight for herself only because she would greatly upset Rin if she didn't.

Now, he supposed her reason to fight was Rissy and all the people that relied upon Silver. Even still, he recognized that she would still feel guilty. It was why she had been certain to finish her meal before hand.

Sesshoumaru suspected she would fight off the rush of guilt long enough to make a dignified exit and retreat to her own suite somewhere in the hotel where it would inevitably catch up with her. He didn't plan to leave her alone with it. Silver had never deserved to suffer such guilt and he'd be damned before he'd stay way and not try to alleviate it. And he had always tried to alleviate it, even after she'd defended Rin the first time and he didn't know her, he had tried.

Silver stood quietly next to Kagome's barrier as she waited for the hotel staff to move in to keep the stain from spreading. Thankfully they laid out a path for her to walk across the carpet without worrying about dripping on it. If she had been forced to express her concern it would've reflected badly on her people. Many believed a conscientious ruler was a weak one. He knew it would've bothered her to spoil the carpet; it was why she chose to battle on the bare floor instead.

Silver made her apologies and excused herself to get cleaned up and the room began to thrum with excited chatter.

Sesshoumaru was prevented from immediately following her by a hand on his arm. He turned on the hindrance with a low growl. Rissy's eyes narrowed but she smiled brightly anyway. He blinked at her in surprise and nearly apologized for his growl.

"Give it a few minutes," she whispered to him as she drew him back towards their tables. "Let the excitement die down a little so it doesn't look like you think she needs care. Help encourage the idea that you think her unaffected."

"But she is alone," he replied just as quietly. "And she will begin to chastise herself for that which was unavoidable."

Rissy shook her head. "Mama has always been alone, she will survive a little longer," she insisted and he realized that Rissy understood the game of politics as well as her mother. With a little more experience the girl could probably take a seat on the Circle without much difficulty. "Besides," she continued and squeezed his arm. "You should wait until the shock has a chance to settle in. That way you will not have to battle her self castigation twice." Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrow at her. "She _has_ just killed the bastard that killed my grandparents. She _had_ just found out who it was," Rissy pointed out. "Surely you can't think she would be immune to what those two events together might mean."

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened minutely and red began to flood them. Silver was going to need him. Id was already straining to find her, as Sesshoumaru was held idle under the hand of his wise pup. The inu youkai leaned over to plant a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I wish I had been there to watch you grow up. I wish I had seen you as a carefree pup." He gazed into her startled eyes. "Instead know that if you ever need me, I am here as I wish I always could have been. I am proud of you and awed by how amazing your mother has taught you to be. You're just like her, you know. When I first met her she talked as much as you do and she was just as smart and happy as you," he squeezed her hand. "Now I have to go and try to keep your mother from making herself ill."

"Can't you wait just a few minutes longer?" she hissed through a fake smile.

"If you desire for me to make a scene," Sesshoumaru hissed back and removed her hand from his person. Id hated to do that. His pup was very precious to him, but Silver was hurting. His mate was suffering and he could no more allow it to continue than he could turn back time. It was a physical ache threaded through the bones of his body.

Silver's suffering was his own. Oh, he may not actually feel what she felt, but Sesshoumaru couldn't stomach the thought of her in emotional pain. If he had to brush his pup off a little to ease his mate's distress just a little faster, the so be it. Besides, he could always beg for his daughter's forgiveness later.

At least he hoped so, but there was no reasoning with Id right now.

Sesshoumaru made his excuses with his dinner party. He hadn't exactly finished the meal, but no one at the table was planning to anyway. Youkai didn't need to eat three meals a day once they achieved maturity and Sesshoumaru had already attended to meals in the last twelve hours. With Silver now gone from the room, he really had no reason to stay and neither did most of the rest of the table.

He was unleashed in the hunt for Silver in less than a handful of minutes. This time he didn't have to rely on an obscure sense to find her. All Sesshoumaru had to do was follow the discrete spots of blood on the floor and trail after the acrid tang of it in the air.

Silver had avoided the lobby, opting to take the stairs instead. He suspected she had avoided it because of the expensive oriental rugs and ornate furnishings that crowded the front receiving room of the hotel.

Sesshoumaru leapt up the stairs one short flight at a time. The steps were barren and he could clearly see where she had likewise jumped from landing to landing in an attempt to minimize the amount of blood she left staining the floor. He shook his head, even with all the effort she'd gone to in order to cut down on the work she'd created for others, he just knew she'd be upset by the small amount of blood she had still left behind and berating herself over it.

Sometimes he wondered if Silver weren't just too considerate for her own good.

Finally he burst out of the stairwell on the top floor. In a way it made sense that the circle would take the pent house suites for their own. They were the only ones bringing small children and their people were most easily secured at the top of the building. If he remembered correctly the elevator would only ascend to the top floor with special keys and he was pretty certain that if Silver hadn't taken the stairs and been in such a state, that door would have likely been barred for entry as well.

Sesshoumaru strode past the closed door on his right, through which he could hear the gentle murmur of Inuyasha's family trying to soothe Beni's fears into peaceful slumber. He passed doors that obviously guarded rooms empty of current living occupants, one of which had apparently left the TV on by accident.

In due time he stood outside the door the lead to Silver. There was drying blood on the doorknob. This door was ajar and unlocked, like the door to the stairwell had been. Sesshoumaru growled softly, Silver should be so careless. Anyone could've come after her, not just him. Id locked down such thinking for now. Silver didn't need a scolding at the moment; she needed comfort. If superego and Ego couldn't understand that…

Sesshoumaru took a deep breath before pushing the door open with his fingertips.


	9. A Cold Shower

The funniest thing happened today, I failed to pass the employment assessment at the Wal-mart near my new residence! CAn you believe that? I really don't understand how they can evaluate/grade an assessment based mostly on oppinion and hypothetical situations, but apparently that's what they do down here and I'm failed it. Ah well, I really didn't want to work at Wal-mart anyway!

Instead I'm focusing on something a bit more long-term and better paying. I don't want to mooch of my family forever, moving to Texas was step one. Though I'm not exactly sure if it's going to work...

But you really don't care about that, you want to know if Sesshoumaru's going to walk in on a naked Silver. You want to know if sesshoumaru is going to save Silver's day from complete emotional ruin. Or rather, you wanna know if they're gonna get jiggy wit' it. I say, well you're just going to have to read it aren't you?

Good thing you now can, huh?

As per usual, stud-muffin Sesshoumaru, obnoxious Inuyasha, spit-fire Kagome, dense Kouga, pregnant Ayame, precocious Rin, accomodating Jaken, and strangely quiet and absent Shippou are technically not mine. All the other Adjective-described characters are though...

so Nah ne-nah na nah nah!

**A Cold Shower**

The darkness inside the suite could not hide the fact that Silver was obviously sharing the space with more than just her daughter, which was perfectly fine. The pent house suites were more like small multi-room condos than the suites down stairs. From the scent of things, Silver shared with Rissy, Trank, Steve, and disgustingly Jasper. Apparently the Circle had taken all the members that weren't related to the wolves and Inuyasha and stashed them in this one space.

Sesshoumaru growled in annoyance, but since the others weren't in the suite with him, nothing happened. It was just he and Silver, wherever she was hiding. Lucky for him, she wasn't actually _trying_ to hide, so she was easily found by following the percussive sound of falling water in a shower.

Sesshoumaru traced the muted sound to the bathroom adjoining the largest bedroom. Again the door wasn't closed properly allowing light to spill out onto the plush hotel carpet. The inu youkai's sense of urgency grew at the sight.

Silver had always been a particularly fastidious female, especially when there was hot springs to be found and explored. She loved a warm bath and when a hot spring wasn't close enough to bathe in, she would insist on warming some water to wash up with. So why wasn't there steam escaping from the bathroom? This couldn't be good.

Sesshoumaru moved forward to step into the lighted space carefully, Silver didn't necessarily have to be in the water just because it was on. In fact, he rather hoped she wasn't. If she were then his job would be a bit more difficult. After all, it had been over five hundred years since he'd traveled with her, and even then she'd been rather averse to him intruding on her bathing, and that's before he hurt her.

Sesshoumaru glanced around the bathroom, taking in the elegant oversized tub and porcelain fixtures before his reddened eyes settled on the glass shower enclosure. The sides were only partially transparent but he could still see that Silver wasn't bothering to stand under the pounding water. Nor had she exerted the effort to remove her fancy evening gown. Instead Silver was curled up against the wall with the expensive material of the dress sticking to the glass and probably her skin as well.

He sighed sadly before approaching the shower door and hauling it open. The inu youkai crouched down to see her better and did not like what he saw.

Silver's skin was as blue as her dress and her normally pink lips where turning purple. There was no steam because the hot water had never been called forth. Now his mate stared at him almost beyond the point of shivering in a mound of ruined wet material.

Her misty eyes were bottomless and tired; all he could see was a maze of exhaustion and emotional torment. It cut at him that she wasn't looking to him to find her and set it right. Silver didn't look at him like she expected him to help her. The only regard she showed was mild surprise like she couldn't believe he had come after her.

He supposed she had reason to feel that way. The long time apart had engendered a sense of self-reliance in them both, where outside help when it really counted was something of a myth. Sesshoumaru had taken no one into his confidence about the splintering of his mind. He had never voiced his fears of never finding Silver again and told no one about his dreams of a family with her.

He imagined Silver had behaved in a similar manner when dealing with issues that would affect no one else but her. Her secret fears, her profound feelings of hurt and loss, they remained solely hers. The difference between them: he had his dreams and she had Rissy, her little girl and light in the darkness.

Sesshoumaru hated to think what Silver would be like now if not for Marissa. Would he have even found her without Rissy's curiosity? He shuddered to think not.

Sesshoumaru reached forward to brush some wet hair from her frigid cheek. He wasn't certain Silver would allow him to help her, but he had to try.

First, he had to get her warmed up. He shifted and reached past the water to turn it off. That was enough of the shower for now. Silver was so cold that he feared hot water would send her into shock before doing her any good.

He knew how to treat hypothermia, though he hadn't realized youkai could become hypothermic. He'd just known that Silver had always appeared human and done his best to stay abreast of human medical advances. It was a way to prevent boredom and it helped make him believe that he would find his mate again someday. Now he got to use those acquired skills.

He pulled her gently to her feet, leaning her against his chest to help keep her steady. Sesshoumaru fumbled for the dress fastening for a moment before just slicing through the fabric in frustration and hauling the blue tangle overhead to throw it over her shoulder into the shower. It landed with a wet THWOK on the tiled floor to be joined shortly by his damp shirt and jacked and her soggy undergarments.

Sesshoumaru snagged an overlarge fluffy towel to wrap around her body before grabbing a slightly smaller one to dry her hair. He led her to sit on the lid of the commode so that he could rub the water from her considerable mop of hair without having to hold her up.

When he was satisfied that he couldn't drive any more water from her hair he threw the towel into the shower with the rest of their wet things and lead her into the darkened bedroom outside the bathroom. He stopped when they drew near to the large bed the room housed before taking the towel wrapped around her and rubbing it chafingly against her bluish skin.

He deposited her under the blankets before retreating to the bathroom to discard her towel. Sesshoumaru returned swiftly and crawled into the bed next to her.

He pulled her tightly to his chest making sure as much of his exposed skin touched hers as possible. He debated removing his slacks for a moment or two but decided against it. He was having a hard enough time with her naked, no need to make it harder to keep his promises by stripping down himself. Silver would just have to pull through with stealing his body heat through what was already bared.

He kissed her temple and rubbed his cheek against her while allowing his hands to rub her arms, shoulders and back. Eventually Silver warmed enough to shiver continuously and he had to tighten his arms around her to maintain contact. Sesshoumaru willed her to warm even more. She had never liked to be cold and he was determined to fix it.

"You did good," Sesshoumaru rumbled in her ear. No one said he had to wait for her to be warm before he started dealing with the root of her problem.

"But-" she began to protest.

He nipped her ear to cut her off. "You were challenged and you survived it, removing a dangerous threat to your people and your family. Surely you do not think it would've been better for him to throw your territory back into chaos with your death?"

"I-no," she answered quietly, still slightly unconvinced.

"You didn't want him to go after Rissy did you?" Sesshoumaru prodded.

"No!" Silver cried.

"He would have if you had not prevented it," he continued. "And what do you think he would've done to the rest of the circle?"

"I know, I know," Silver answered glumly. "But-"

"But what?" He asked pulling her tightly to him.

"But I wasn't thinking of that," she whispered. "I was just so angry-"

"It is natural to feel anger at someone that has harmed those you care about. You still hurt from the loss of your parents," Sesshoumaru murmured. "And you probably fear for Rissy as well. You protected her from that pain. Rissy will not know the pain of losing her mother. You did right," he declared firmly.

"But I cut him to pieces," she protested.

"And I melt my opponents down to sizzling puddles," he chuckled grimly. "You should ask Rin what I did to all her would-be suitors before she ran off with Manitoya."

"Oh dear," she sighed.

He smiled into her hair. "Quite," he chuckled and nuzzled into her neck. His lips found his mark and laved it with his tongue.

Silver's shivering was slowly abating, leaving contented warmth in its wake. She brought her hands up to run her fingers through his hair. He purred quietly under the sensation. "I miss your hair," she said out of the blue.

His quiet laughter shook through him and into her. "I do too, almost everyday," he replied with amusement.

"Then why do you cut it? Inuyasha doesn't," She pointed out.

"People don't tend to take long-haired businessmen very seriously," he answered running his own claws through her luxurious locks. "I hear Rissy took after me in her coloring."

Silver chuckled tiredly. "Yes, she did. And she absolutely loves it."

"It would not seem so with how often she changes it," he pointed out.

She snorted, "Maybe so, but if her base coloring wasn't so light Rissy wouldn't be able to pull off some of her more outrageous colors."

"I've only seen the tame ones," Sesshoumaru observed.

Silver shook her head. "She's normally anything but tame. Her favorites are a fire engine red and dark purple. And she quite often combines the two in a streaky pattern. Last year her hair was a bright Kelly green for about a month. I haven't seen it silver in years."

"And here I thought she liked me," Sesshoumaru grumbled playfully. "She can't stand that we have the same hair color."

"Don't be silly of course Rissy-" he cut off whatever else she might have said with the firm application of his mouth on hers.

"It's a good thing her mother likes me or I wouldn't have a chance," he whispered against her lips teasingly.

She huffed in annoyance, sending a warm blast of air across his features before Silver pulled him down for another kiss.

Sesshoumaru couldn't have been more delighted. Silver was warm and writhing underneath him. She was inviting and encouraging him.

The inu youkai wouldn't take advantage of her. She was still emotionally upset and confused, but there was nothing wrong with a little rubbing in the right places. And he certainly wasn't going to wait for a second invitation to renew the mark if she let him.

He gave her plenty of warning. He dragged his fangs caressingly down the column of her neck. He nibbled at the scar a moment. He bit down gently without breaking the skin. She never pushed him away. She never drew back from him. She had every opportunity to do so. He made sure of it.

In the end his teeth sank into the flesh and her blood spilled into his mouth as she arched into him, rubbing against him more firmly. And he likewise rubbed against her, delighted to have her within reach and willingly responsive.

His mouth trailed her blood over her skin as he worshipped at her shrine, attempting to recommit her features irrevocably in his memory.

It wasn't until Sesshoumaru brought his mouth back to hers after managing to achieve some minor relief from their mutual frustration that he realized she had bitten him as well.

Most youkai society did not think highly of a male marked by a female, but Sesshoumaru couldn't care less. She had marked him. Silver had marked his flesh as hers.

Five hundred years ago he might have been angered. He might even have tried to harm her in retaliation, but he wasn't that person anymore. Now he couldn't bear the thought of causing Silver harm and he actually rejoiced in this concrete indication that she had no intention of seeking a different mate.

That didn't mean Sesshoumaru was so far gone he wouldn't offer a token protest and tease her about it.

Sesshoumaru let out a mildly petulant growl. My what a very token protest. "Looks like you've claimed a stray as your own," he brought up a clawed hand to wipe some of his own blood off her lips and show it to her. She flushed in embarrassment and made to pull away. He tightened his hold on her, determined to hold her a while longer despite the discomfiture he felt in his ruined slacks.

"Well you started it," she huffed struggling a bit more to break free.

"Now, now," he chuckled softly. "Once you have claimed responsibility for a stray, you can't just take it back."

"You are not a stray dog!" she growled at him and he kissed her again. She settled against him with a tired sigh. "Jackass," she huffed affectionately.

When she pulled away again he let her go and sat up. She stole the top blanket on the bed to wrap around herself as she moved about the room. He growled with discontent, Sesshoumaru desired to see his Silver's nude body as it moved about. It was a treat he had yet to be gifted with.

She shook her head at him with a rueful smile. "We haven't got time for this. I have to be downstairs before they start tonight's festivities. Thanks to you I need another shower," his disapproving growl sounded through the room. He didn't think trusting her in the shower right now was a good idea after how he'd found her. "Fine I'll take a bath," she muttered as she continued to collect her clothes. "Here," she threw a set of clothes at him.

The pants she gave him smelled of Steve and the men's shirt smelled strongly of Rissy. He raised his eyebrow at them. "What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Dress your hair," she snorted. "You could shower and wear those either to your room in order to retrieve your own clothing, or you could just wear them to this evening's events. I just thought you'd prefer not wandering the politician infested hotel half naked and wearing evidence of this encounter."

Sesshoumaru glared at her half-heartedly, she had a point, truly she did. He'd just prefer to wear her scent a little longer. "Why do you insist upon washing my scent from your person right now?"

Silver glanced at him and sighed before sitting on the end of the bed still wrapped in the blanket. "We all promised not to announce who has mated to whom until the closing ceremonies tomorrow evening," she began. "The rumors were started as a smoke screen. None of us really planned to find a mate."

"But the possibility that you might be kept all attention on the circle, specifically those that were quite apparently unmated," Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, why hadn't he realized that.

Silver nodded, "This event was only verified by the circle as a trading initiator. We needed to seek outside allies to protect our future and this was understood, but we didn't need it to happen now. We could have waited a few years."

"This is about Rissy and to a lesser extent Yumi and Beni," Sesshoumaru couldn't believe he hadn't realized it before. "That's why Rissy has been involved with everything and Beni and Yumi needed the exposure to what they're getting into."

Silver smiled, "This was Rissy's trial run. She'll join the circle once the event is over. Beni knew from the start what was going on, poor baby." She murmured. "Beni will be a very powerful god someday. And I fear that's my fault. The poor baby is already beginning to grow into his powers. He has vision, the poor thing."

"Hence the episode in the dining room," he shook his head.

"His visions often leave him terribly confused and terrified upon first waking. He'll remember it more clearly tomorrow. I'll just have to remember to ask him about it." Silver shrugged and stood up. "Rissy evinces the signs of becoming a god herself. Things are different for girls. Female gods won't survive long past puberty without a strong emotional attachment to someone or something and their powers do not unlock until they are mated."

"The true reason for holding this event," Sesshoumaru murmured.

Silver nodded sadly, "once she is part of the circle she has no chance of finding a mate that will fit the bill. She will always be courted by officials on their best behavior hiding their greedy claws and lying fangs behind a pretty façade."

"This way she sees what they're hiding because they don't bother to hide it from someone who isn't perceived as being of any consequence," Sesshoumaru closed his eyes. Silver had known the needs of her daughter and found the best way to help her despite the embarrassment it might cause herself. Then he remembered something, "Raoull."

Silver smiled. "It does seem very likely at the moment. She rather likes him and I think his seriousness of thought will help to calm her flighty nature rather nicely. And I think Yumi has about settled on Jasper to be honest."

Sesshoumaru stared at her in mild surprise. So many gods gathered in one place. "How is it they all appear –" It was her turn to interrupt him.

"My fault again," she gave him a slow mildly repentant smile. "I've made it a point to avoid touching Ayame in her pregnancy as much as possible this time around. It couldn't be helped with Kagome though." She shook her head sadly, "they tried so hard and she just kept miscarrying I couldn't help it."

"What did you do?" he asked in mild curiosity.

"I kind of talked him into being as stubborn as his parents. Though Beni insists he just wanted to see me."

"Manitoya and Rin would like to know what you do very much, I think," Sesshoumaru commented thoughtfully. Silver glanced at him before moving to the bathroom. "What about the rumor about revealing the lord of the Americas true identity?"

"I have no idea where you would hear such a ridiculously false rumor," she gave him a mischievous grin over her shoulder. "But what a crowd such a possibility might bring!"

"Minx!" he chuckled as he followed her with his borrowed clothing.

"Well, we wanted to ensure Rissy the biggest possible turn out," she shrugged. "Can you think of anything else that might pull in such a big crowd of bandying hopefuls?"

He chuckled at her exposed manipulation of an entire world of power greedy youkai. She knew her world and all its foibles to her advantage. Why had he never realized how clever she was and how fiercely she would protect her family? How could he have missed it?

Silver started the water for her bath and he was pleased to detect the healthy amount of steam wafting up from the water. She would be okay. She turned and caught him watching her. He had every intention of joining her in that water if he could, but Silver wasn't having any of it.

"Shower's behind you," she called to him as she added bubbles to the water.

Sesshoumaru turned to the shower so she wouldn't see him pout. Now he wouldn't even get to see her naked in the bath.

He grumbled under his breath about pleasures denied all the while he moved the still wet clothing from the floor of the shower to hang over he glass walls of it before finally being able to step into the steaming water himself. He wasn't really that upset. He would have all the time in the world to learn every cell of his mate's body at his leisure on some later date.

Sesshoumaru understood responsibility and obligation. He understood the need to maintain appearances. He himself had been forced to live by those requirements since he was very young, and their tug was never truly forgotten. That didn't mean he wouldn't resent them when they interfered with his personal desires.

The delay before the start of his shower cost him the reward of seeing Silver exit her bath in all her squeaky clean glory. In fact, by the time he was dressed and leaving the bathroom Silver was fully clothed and accessorized and sliding into her last shoe.

Her dress was a charming blue Chinese number with frog clasps across one shoulder. It stopped a little above her knee. Sesshoumaru had a moment to think it would be better in red before the red version strode in on his daughter.

"Mama," Rissy called softly. "I can't get this clasp to work properly."

Silver stood up to aid the struggling teen with the frustrating piece of jewelry. Sesshoumaru glanced around the now illuminated room only to have his eyes inescapably drawn to the bed that showed absolutely no signs of anyone having sat on top of the covers let alone slipping between them, even the scent was gone from the bed coverings.

It took monumental force of will to keep himself from raising his fingers to check and see if the mark was still on his neck just to make sure he hadn't imagined it. It _had_ happened he told himself. He wouldn't be in this room watching Silver and Rissy getting ready if it hadn't, logic told him. Besides, Silver's scent was too close to him, even after his shower, for him to have hallucinated the whole thing.

He glanced back to Silver and her daughter. "There you go," she declared and offered the teenager a soothing hug. "Problem solved the world makes sense again."

Rissy snorted and rolled her eyes. "It's just a piece of jewelry mom," she squeezed Silver tight all the same and inhaled deeply. "I must say your new perfume is rather nice though."

"Rissy!" Silver gasped sharply.

The teenager snickered, "I hope you keep him, oh excuse me, it around." Rissy stuck her tongue out teasingly. "Besides, Maruhama smells better wearing parfume de you and I think he rather likes it, right dad?" she grinned at him mischievously.

He gifted her with a smile of his own. "You better watch how you tease your mother, I may forget how much I like your ability to talk," Sesshoumaru teased back.

"You say that as if not being able to talk will make me quiet," Rissy shot back playfully. "I assure you there are more ways than one for me to make noise."

"Oh god forbid!" Trank stuck her head in the door. "Would you finish getting dressed Rissy! We're going to be late."

"You better get out here before Jasper takes it into his head to hide your shoes," Steve called from behind the female in the doorway.

Rissy leapt forward to cover his mouth. "Don't give him ideas!" she hissed. "He really might do that!" She exited the room following after the two elder youkai.

Silver shook her head after them before picking up the bag on top of the overstuffed chair. She turned to give it to him and he got his first full frontal view of her in her dress. He growled angrily when he spotted the ribbon covering his mark. She raised her eyebrow at him. "I told you we can't announce it until the closing ceremonies tomorrow. Parading around with your fresh mark on my skin would negate the need to announce anything," She pointed out. "Now this," she shook the bag, "is what Jaken sent up for you to change into. I called him to let him know that your attire had been rendered unpresentable."

He snatched at the bag and stalked into the bathroom growling all the while. Sesshoumaru almost preferred not knowing her location to the torment Silver was putting him through now.

After the door was firmly closed behind him he took a deep breath to try releasing his anger. Silver wasn't tormenting him on purpose; she wasn't vindictive. She also didn't believe he had done anything wrong; she wasn't trying to punish him. She was just trying to protect the future of her daughter, his pup. He knew that. He understood it. He just wasn't used to thinking like a parent with such a young daughter anymore.

He hadn't watched Rissy grow or learn to walk. He hadn't been kept up nights fearing she would be kidnapped or killed.

If he had, Rissy probably would never have been allowed out of his sight. Sesshoumaru was a very busy businessman so she would've spent most of her early childhood inside corporate offices. So he supposed he could understand Silver's insurmountable desire to see the ruse to the end.

That didn't make him feel better though.

With a resigned sigh he changed his clothes. Jaken had apparently picked up on Silver's penchant for wearing blue at this event. His suit was a respectable blue color, not exactly a match for her dress, but a nice compliment anyway. He smirked in the mirror when he realized almost all his clothes on this trip had been blue.

Jaken had packed his bags so Rissy must've said something to the imp about it. The teenage girl had been pulling for him the whole time and he suspected she would continue to do so. It was good to remember that.

Besides, if Silver wanted attention focused away from her daughter, he could do that. He raked a hand through his hair with a mischievous grin. Political youkai do love to gossip, he could just give them something more to talk about.

Silver had only said they couldn't announce that they had mated. She didn't say he couldn't hang all over her like a jealous lover. It _was_ possible after all. Youkai did have casual relationships from time to time. He had never been one to really advertise his affairs and it wasn't publicly known that Silver had ever been mated. And the rumor was she was looking for a mate despite her previous offspring.

Youkai society would have a field day. It wasn't often they got to play with his name and Silver was fresh wood to their eternal fire. Rissy would be no more than a footnote to them.

He could play the political game when he had to. Sesshoumaru just wasn't used to looking forward to it with such relish. He was really going to enjoy this.

And since he was trying to stir up some fairly harmless trouble, Sesshoumaru could even be slightly rude. After all, Silver had to go to this ball/dance or whatever they were calling it. That didn't mean they had to stay.

Oh that thought was delicious. Sesshoumaru's eyes gleamed in the darkness as he turned off the lights.

"You look like you've thought of something delightful," Silver observed as they rode the elevator to the lobby.

"Oh that's a shit-eating grin," Trank declared. "Somebody is planning to misbehave rather badly."

"I think he's got the right idea of it," Steve grinned. "I think we should behave badly too, fair Trank."

"So long as nobody plans to steal Silver away," Jasper began, "Because I get to do it."

"Can't I just tell Jasper?" Rissy whined. "Please?"

"Don't worry Jasper, you'd be the last person I'd steal away with," Silver stated, filling the car with laughter.


	10. Dancing With Mischief

New chapter! And you all have successfully survived the last few days since new material was last posted for your reading enjoyment! Good for you.

Such things happen in this chapter! Heeheee!

okay so none of the really amusing and titilating things most of us could have imagined happening actually do happen. It turns out that Sesshouamru is not very good at "misbehaving" in company as he might fancy himself able to. Poor poor inu youkai! YOu'll catch my meaning rather quickly I'm sure. teehee.

I'm slowly adjusting to Texas and already appear to be wearing out my welcome. My Uncle commented yesterday about food and my aunt has already alluded to oweing things that haven't even happened. I have resolved to stay back from their little trips and things. Their grandsons are here and they like to take them to all the touristy things in the area (of which there are many) and I've already been dragged on the church thing yesterday. Or rather a made a point of not having to be dragged despite my dislike of organized religion. I did not want to set a bad example for how they wish to spend their time with their grandsons who are much younger than me. I think they got the wrong idea about it. I keep being introduced to the church goers. Not that there's anything wrong with people who attend church, but I rather dislike being preached at and as all these people are older and I am younger and staying with my Aunt and Uncle, they feel they must impart their wisdom to me. I try to help out with chores and the like, but I am as yet mostly unfamiliar with the house. I would do the grocery shopping, but I don't have the money. So I will simply stay home so that when they eat out they don't have to pay for me. When they go to places like Sea World or the zoo (which we have done and though I got in on their family pass they still insisted on eating lunch there) I will stay home so I won't here about oweing money about park entrance and what not. Last week they went to the theatre and I was going to pay for the snacks on my credit card but my uncle insisted on doing it himself. That was the first day I was here. Rather a quick turn around...or I could just be over-sensitive about oweing anything to anyone. I rather like being a bit more independent than I seem to be perceived. who knows?

Anyways, you don't care about that. Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Rin, Shippou, Jaken, Kouga and Ayame are not of my creation. I think that takes care of the important disclaimers. read on!

**Dancing With Mischief**

Sesshoumaru had never bothered to learn the European dances when first he encountered them. His being part of the older generation of youkai had colored the ballroom dances with the true dangers such close contact could embody for any youkai with great power and many enemies, a view that was like instinct to him. Any stranger could be the assassin who needed only to get close enough to deliver the death that would end it all.

It was not a good death. In Sesshoumaru's eyes, it was a fool's death for not seeing the dangers of the situation, for stepping willingly into it. His was a generation that suffered through the betrayals and intrigues spawned by the fertile minds of fellow youkai as well as the lesser species of man.

Through the years that he had been forced to attend political event after mandatory gala, Sesshoumaru had never seen anything that could entice him to partake of something so against his better judgment despite how this form of recreation grew in popularity and the increasing frequency of opportunity, much to the disappointment of his admirers. He had scoffed at the nonsensical romanticized reason given by his fellows as fewer and fewer of them stood with him to line the walls around the fools who succumbed to the supposed allure of touching in public.

That is, there was nothing until he was forced to watch Silver dancing in the arms of half a dozen would-be suitors as the evening progressed. He watched her pass from one male unto the next with her easy grace and constant smile. She talked pleasantly and laughed occasionally. At least that was what he gathered from the wall he stood against, far from the center of the opulent ballroom floor.

He growled every time some unknowing dancing couple blocked his view. To watch her was torture; to lose sight of her was worse. Despite the cloud of people hovering over Silver at all times, much could happen in a crowded ballroom. Much of that many of those hovering people wouldn't necessarily object to. He snarled every time the music climbed to a climax and her partner dipped her, moving in for something much too like a kiss.

What happened to his plan? He was supposed to be away from this room even now indulging in the pleasures of her pretty pink skin, not suffering the torment of watching others tempt his mate away from him. He'd intended to lure her away from it all five minutes after she made her official appearance, fifteen minutes tops, but the sad truth was, because he had held her up, they had arrived late and the music had already started. The moment Silver entered the room she had been assailed by a landslide of instant invitations to dance. And because she was trying to perpetuate the illusion that she was _looking_ for a mate she had to accept.

Thus Sesshoumaru wound up unhappily watching his mate flit around the floor at the whims of the music and whichever male had chosen to step forward. He was unable to collect her and pull her from the room when she was held up so far from the walls the non-dancing patrons were relegated to lining in their stationary existence. And he couldn't lunge into the crowd and seize her like a piece of meat. She would not take well such disrespect of her person.

Silver had to be seen as an individual to successfully continue leading her people. If the throng perceived her as weak it left the Americas open for violent encroachment by the greedy. Sure there were others in her group responsible for protecting and governing the continents, but of them all she was obviously the leader and the strongest. Inuyasha was Hanyou. The wolves required numbers for their strength. Trank had demonstrated no strengths so far and Steve, despite his equine fierceness, was not a predator, not a major threat in and of himself. Silver stood out in her mysteriousness due to her human appearance and unknown powers.

If he were to capture her and pull her from the floor and she failed to fight, then she was weak of mind, needful of someone else to tell her what to do. If she put up a fight and he over powered her, she was weak of physical strength, easily over come in war and strategy. If she won, then he was weak. A double-edged sword it was and there was too much at stake on both sides to risk it.

It was one thing to plan to leave an event earlier than civility might dictate. It was fine to do that in pursuit of supporting a claim on a mate. Such behavior would be construed as a result of instinct reinforced by the habits of ruling. Pursuit of a mate was healthy and right. That Sesshoumaru had not already done so (according to public knowledge) would grant him some leniency in the eyes of his peers as the instinct to mate builds up over time. He could misbehave and have few repercussions besides general teasing later.

But there were only certain behaviors that could be excused. As the room in general was unaware that Silver had been marked, either now or in the past, his pouncing between a dancing couple to snatch her away from the room could not be explained nor excused. He could only do it discreetly, as lovers sneaking around or a male seducing a female. And he couldn't be discreet if he couldn't get near her.

Dancing, or attempting to dance, was out of the question. Sesshoumaru had been very stolid in his opposition to the activity for a very long time, even by youkai standards. To suddenly go against his very public opinion, well…

Rin and Manitoya came to rest beside the moody inu glaring out at the dance floor. His first little girl glanced from her silver haired father to the couple he seemed to focus most his attention on and sighed as she saw Silver dipped in answer to the continuing lilt of the music. Had she not been looking for it, she might not have noticed the fine shaking that signified his sub-vocal growl of displeasure rumbling through his body. She rolled her eyes at his self-inflicted impotency in the face of this situation.

"Why don't you go and ask her to dance before the next clown does?" she asked with a snort. A waltz wasn't that hard and surely with as much time as Sesshoumaru had spent doing nothing but watching he had picked up the gist of it.

"You know this Sesshoumaru does not dance," he growled shortly. A different couple caught his attention briefly as Raoull swept Rissy across his view. It upset him on many levels to see it. There was of course the fact that they briefly blocked his view of Silver, an infraction he was willing to overlook because it was his daughter waltzing by. What really irritated him, though, was the sudden feeling that had accompanied the sight of his daughter with a male that would likely be her mate very soon. It made him ponder how big a bubbling puddle Raoull would create under his claws. He wouldn't do it of course, despite having rendered many of Rin's first suitors to such a state. There was a difference here that had not been present before.

Sesshoumaru had raised Rin, watched her grow up. And while she may not have been of his blood she was in everyway his little girl. Rissy was his daughter by blood, anything beyond that was a result of her generosity and curious nature. He had no say in whom she mated or how she allowed the courtship to go. If this came years down the road and he had been around enough, perhaps he might, but not yet, not now. It was a bitter realization that did in no way help his mood as yet another fool dipped his mate to attempt the theft of a kiss.

"I know you've never participated before, but I bet you could do it anyway," Rin protested.

"Hush, my love," Manitoya kissed her cheek gently. "He must tread carefully here else things turn out badly. Silver dances because she must. Sesshoumaru does not because he has long said he would not. Until he has an obvious reason for such a drastic change in opinion he must not."

"That is really stupid," she declared with a snort. "Silver is reason enough."

"If he had the excuse of youth and inexperience, it would be," Manitoya chuckled quietly at her willful refusal to see the reasons. Rin knew it couldn't happen too, her experience in the world of powerful youkai had taught her as much over the centuries, but the romantic in her wouldn't let it go. "But your dear adoptive father has long since proven himself beyond that. It would look like insanity, weakness and senility to act that way now. If she were his publicly acknowledged mate and they had been together sometime beyond two days it could be different."

"But she-"

"Rin," Sesshoumaru cut her off firmly. It pained him to hear her argue for the things he wanted but could not do. "What is past is to remain unknown outside those deserving of trust and confidence." It was a warning. She had been about to bring up that year so long ago to argue her side of the argument and he couldn't allow it.

Too many prying ears, too many spying eyes, all full of curiosity and possibly malicious intent. The youkai throng did not like being made fools of. Silver had appeared unmated and unknown. If it were to be revealed that any part of that was a lie…he shuddered to think what sort of violence would result. The fledgling government would topple, the continents would erupt in chaos and that wasn't even considering what would happen to her.

Even if Sesshoumaru managed to pull Silver and her daughter from the danger he doubted Silver would ever be the same again. Best case scenario, she would mourn and guilt herself into bad health for the rest of her life. He didn't even want to ponder a worst-case scenario.

Rin sighed as she stood next to her unhappy father and cautious mate whilst all three watched on as Silver passed from one partner to the next with the changing of the music. Truly she knew too much was at risk for Sesshoumaru to behave rashly. On Silver's end of things there were two continents full of people, which was a constantly obvious fact. ON his side there was the people of his own territories, no less important for their smaller numbers. But there was also his influence and affiliation with the UYC to consider. Sesshoumaru had helped to found it and many had spoken against it through the years but never bothered to do more than talk because of the Inu youkai's reputation and fierce strength. If it was decided Sesshoumaru had suddenly gone crazy or that he had long been crazy, more than just his territories would be affected.

Still she couldn't stand to see him this unhappy when all it would take was a little careful planning or scheming. It was obvious to her that, though Silver never lost her smile, she was growing terribly weary of her company. And it didn't take a rocket scientist to know Sesshoumaru would rather be driving Silver to exhaustion with a certain other activity.

Rin began to search the swirling dancers for Rissy figuring the two of them together could come up with something. Unfortunately Rissy had seemingly disappeared from Rin's side of the crowded room and could not be looped into conspiracy of the most mischievous kind. She rolled her eyes and huffed quietly. "Fine, I'll do it myself!"

Manitoya raised an eyebrow at her unexplained outburst before she dragged him off in erroneous pursuit of satiating her fictitious thirst.

Sesshoumaru barely spared their sudden departure a fleeting glance and hardly any real thought. At this moment, he found Rin's pushy presence a bit much and could only sigh in relief that they'd left him to his lonely misery of watching precious Silver catering to the irksome attentions of her would-be matches. He truly felt as though he might never again take her out amongst any of these people ever again. He'd prefer to keep her treasures to himself in a quiet place with no distractions, at least for the next century or so.

Actually, if he could talk her into leaving her territories in the hands of the rest of the circle, he could leave his own holdings under Jaken's care and hideaway for a while. But actually finding somewhere they'd never be found would be difficult and they'd both have to have at least some way of being contacted in case of emergency. (It would have to be one hell of an emergency though!) And they'd need to be within semi-easy distance of both territories as well.

He would have to look into it more deeply later. Right now, Rin was definitely up doing some careful orchestrating of her own. Sesshoumaru blinked as Manitoya and Rin broke purposely through the ring of couples surrounding Silver and her current erstwhile partner.

Obviously in charge of the plot, Rin shoved her reluctant mate forward to cut in on the startled pair. Before Silver's escort knew what was going on he found his lovely partner whisked away and replaced by the little minx grinning evilly as she stepped repeatedly on his toes every chance she got.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but smirk as Manitoya gracefully guided Silver through the crowd in his direction. The ice god was clearly displeased that his own mate was in the arms of another.

With a dark look, Manitoya gently spun Silver out and pressed her against Sesshoumaru's front. "Now you've got your mate, I'm going to go get _mine_!" the grumbling growl was punctuated by an extra push against Silver before the ice god turned and made his thunderous return to the dance floor to retrieve his female.

Sesshoumaru glanced into Silver's face to see her staring dazedly back at him. She moved to watch Manitoya only to find the motion prevented by his arm locked behind her. She sent him a questioning look only to be dragged with him through the door he'd been standing beside all night long. With a stealthy move he clicked the door shut silently behind them.

"Sess-" she began only to quiet when he placed a single finger from his free hand to his lips.

When he was satisfied she got the message he tossed her over his shoulder before turning down what appeared to be a service corridor similar to the one down stairs.

"Sesshoumaru!" she hissed quietly in protest as he headed off in the most likely direction of an elevator. His response was to slide a wickedly clawed hand under the hem of her dress to massage the muscle he found there. Her efforts to prop herself against his back nearly collapsed at the sensation. She breathed a resigned sigh as he left the service corridor and stepped into the plush, nearly deserted lobby.

"Hold the elevator," Sesshoumaru called, his voice rumbling against Silver's fingers where they proper her up and away from flopping on his back.

"Ah!" Silver heard a startled gasp as they came closer to the elevators. "Um, Silver? Are you in need of assistance?"

Silver pushed herself up until she could glance over her shoulder despite the protest in her lower back. She glanced at the speaker then down at Sesshoumaru speculatively before allowing her body to resume the slightly more comfortable position of before. "That's okay Youta, I've got it."

The wolf youkai glanced from Silver to the smirking youkai then back again. "Are you sure?" his brother would skin him alive if anything untoward happened to her.

"Thanks for your concern, but Maruhama was going to put me down in the elevator," Silver shrugged even as Sesshoumaru squeezed her thigh in silent protest. He never said he was going to put her down.

"I don't think-" Youta began slowly. Maruhama was Toji's biggest competition for Silver's heart. That the very same male was apparently making off with the woman before his eyes did not bode well for his future.

"Do not think," Sesshoumaru growled, annoyed by the delay. The wolves' son was blocking him from the elevator and impeding his journey towards either his suite or hers post haste. "Just move."

"I think I'd better call Toji," Youta shook his head at the taiyoukai. "He'll skin me alive if I let you carry Silver off behind his back."

Sesshoumaru couldn't prevent his snarling reaction. Silver was marked and had marked him in return. There was no going behind anyone's back. He opened his mouth to spit the words into the whelp's face only to yelp in surprise when Silver viciously pinched the vulnerable flesh on the back of his arm.

She kicked her uncomfortable shoe off and into the elevator before whipping her pointed foot under Youta's chin and leveling a threatening glare at him. "You will _not_ turn this into a scene that draws the attention of the whole ballroom from down the hall! If I wind up sucked back into that boring throng and trapped dancing in these damned uncomfortable shoes because of you the beating I give you will only pale in comparison to the one your mother will give you for being monumentally disruptive at the worst possible time." The wolf immediately blanched at the threat. "And keep in mind what Ayame is like this late into her pregnancy. You must remember how hormonally imbalanced she tends to get." The boy almost fainted on the spot. "Now move!"

Youta scrambled out of the way as Silver kicked off her other shoe and Sesshoumaru stepped on the car. The doors slid shut the moment the boy was clear.

"Put me down so I can use my key," Silver sighed wearily. The inu youkai leaned over slowly until her bare feet settled gently on the colorful carpet. She stumbled back into the wall as the blood rushed from her head and the elevator started its ascent. Sesshoumaru instantly reached out to steady her even as she caught herself on the sidewall. She shook her head before digging the special key out of the little pocket hidden amongst the frog clasps and using it on the control pad.

Sesshouamru glanced down at the so-called "uncomfortable" shoes sprawled across the floor at their feet. "You didn't appear uncomfortable when you danced in them," he murmured pensively.

Silver snorted, "It's an art. The prerequisite for any woman forced to dress up is the ability to force a smile in the face of any discomfort: mind-numbing boredom, uncomfortable shoes and throbbing blisters and all." She lifted her foot to rub at the strained arch and bruised ball before trailing a finger around the pulsing blister on her heal.

"I was not aware youkai could blister."

"I'm a god, apparently we can do all sorts of things," she muttered absently as she switched feet to inspect the other one before standing. "Certain metals wear easily despite their strength."

Sesshoumaru backed her up against the wall, forcing her body to give way to his. "Some metals are extremely malleable," he breathed of her air before capturing her lips with his own. He let her come up for air momentarily. "All it requires is the proper heat and pressure," he murmured in her ear before resuming the kiss with a bit more pressure in all the right places. He was determined to get under her skin as soon as could be arranged or as soon as they were locked away from prying youkai and nosy family. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite there yet.

Something that was made quite clear the moment the elevator came to a stop on the top floor.

"Well, lookey here," a female called from outside the opened doors. Sesshoumaru turned to stare at a face identical to that of Mira from the night before stripped of the dark make up. "It seems you've lost your shoes."

Silver rolled her eyes, "My quest for the perfect shoe continues, Kira."

"Ah," Kira nodded in understanding. "I think I will miss your shoe burning parties if you ever find it."

"I doubt they will end for long," Silver shrugged. "Shoes don't last forever."

"Too true," Kira sighed. "So who is your partner in crime?"

Sesshoumaru growled, how many of the Ookami's brats were running around? He'd like a head count so he knew just how many damn interrogations he would have to sit through before getting Silver to her room.

"Maruhama," Silver answered simply.

"My sister told me about him!" Kira's eyes lit with recognition.

Sesshoumaru waited for the questioning, the stalling, the 'let me get my older brother' bit he had gotten from the last wolf he'd encountered. When it was slow in coming his impatience sought to speed it along. "And?"

"And nothing," Kira shrugged dismissively. "Don't forget you have to watch security in an hour Silver," she stepped past them on to the elevator, kicking the shoes out of her way as she moved. "Have fun."

Sesshouamru turned to glare at Silver as the metal doors closed and took the wolf away.

"What?" Silver demanded when she noticed his glare.

"You will not be going to watch security," he declared shortly. When was she planning to sleep? Or better yet, when was he supposed to have his fun? No way was she locking herself in that security closet downstairs again!

"The hell I won't!" Silver yelled. "There must be two people watching security at all times and I have to relieve Mira in an hour. I will not neglect this-"

A Door opening down the hall interrupted the argument as Silver cut herself off not wanting to disturb the few inhabitants attempting to sleep all ready. Inuyasha came walking down the hall, his hair loose and tussled from attempts at sleep.

"I thought you'd be asleep, Inuyasha," Silver greeted him softly. "How is Beni?"

Inuyasha's half smile was tired but genuine. "He's fine. I just can't sleep. Kagome has to sleep with Beni to get him to sleep through the night after his special dreams and there's not room in our bed for him, Kagome, Yumi, and me."

"Aw, poor you," Silver chuckled.

"I thought I'd take your shift on security since I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway," the hanyou shrugged.

"She would love for you-" Sesshoumaru attempted to answer for Silver who cut him off with another vicious pinch to the previously abused part of his arm.

"Are you sure Inuyasha?" Silver asked him as if she _hadn't_ just drawn a yelp from the typically stoic youkai. "The shift will run right through your family breakfast time."

"It's all right," Inuyasha shrugged off her concern. "Beni won't settle enough to eat anything until he's talked to you once he wakes up tomorrow." It was implied that a conversation between Silver and his son would take the place of the family meal.

"I'm sorry," Silver sighed wearily. Beni's visions had only started up in the last year and she knew it had to bother his parents that the boy preferred to talk to her over them about what he saw. "If not for me he wouldn't have this problem."

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed at her. "If not for you there would be no Beni. We're not so stupid as to forget that. We'd rather share him than not have him at all."

"Nice of you to say so," Silver chuckled.

"Not nice, I'm not nice!" Inuyasha grumbled. "Now are you going to let me take your shift on security or am I going to have to take it from you when you don't show up!" he growled. "Because either way you're not going to take it."

"Don't be ridiculous," Silver snorted.

"I'm not being ridiculous," Inuyasha grinned. "I'm being realistic." He may have been against Sesshoumaru finding Silver in the beginning, but once it had happened even he knew the inevitable conclusion. "Once you go in there you won't be coming back out again before dawn, if then." Considering dawn was only six hours away. "And that's only if he's had a busy day," Inuyasha winked in the way an old friend used to.

"HAH!" Silver scoffed at him.

In all honesty, she wouldn't have been surprised if Sesshoumaru did manage to prolong certain activities for that long…that is, if she wasn't already fifteen years overdue for a good night's sleep. Relieving her of the duty of watching security, the soothing presence of a long absent mate and the previous exertions of the evening left her more likely to use him as a heater to soothe her aching muscles rather than exercising some greatly underused ones.

Sesshoumaru didn't much care for the length of this conversation and the blatant hints at what he _would_ be doing only made it glaringly obvious that he wasn't already. And Silver's response was a possible insult to his stamina. That or a denial of the activities ever taking place, which was unacceptable.

"Wha-! Put me down!" Silver growled the moment she found herself flung back over an exceedingly familiar shoulder. "I said put me down!" she smacked him solidly on the back. The blow was hard enough to knock him forward a step but obviously not enough for him to put her down.

"Give it up Silver!" Inuyasha laughed at her expense as Sesshoumaru stalked past him. "See you tomorrow, if you can still walk then."

"Shut up!" Silver yelled in frustration.

Inuyasha laughed before seeming to pause in thought. With a semi-sadistic smirk he yawned hugely in full view of Silver. She was always tired so she would naturally yawn involuntarily in response and then be incapable of stopping on her own. He loved doing that to her and it always got him in trouble with Kagome, which could be a big plus.

"You are such a butthead!" Silver grumbled after she was assailed by the first yawn. The last she saw of the mischievous hanyou was his mildly gleeful smile and madly twitching ears. "Jerk," she muttered dismissively before renewing her efforts to be placed back on her feet. "Put me down already!" She demanded with a twisting pinch to the very tender skin of his arm.

Sesshoumaru growled with displeasure and Silver found herself swung off the uncomfortable shoulder and pinned against an unyielding wall. "Now what are you doing?" she asked in curiosity. She was attempting to fight off a yawn and completely losing the battle once again.

Had the inu youkai been aware that Silver was merely yawning when she opened her mouth, he might have been seriously insulted. After all, what male would stand for such an obvious gesture oftentimes associated with boredom displayed amidst such amorous endeavors? Sesshoumaru mistook the opening of her mouth as preceding a continued stream of words and so; he took advantage of the opportunity.

He plied her with a firm kiss designed to heat her blood and turn her brain to mush, bringing primal abandon to the fore.

"Looks like we're back to the malleable metals," Silver muttered breathlessly as he pressed her more firmly against the wall so as to better rock her with each pleased growl that vibrated in his chest.

"All it takes is the proper tempering," Sesshoumaru murmured against her mouth before reclaiming it. His claws explored whatever he could reach, slicing through the silky cloth of the blue dress, completely foregoing the frog clasps at her shoulder. He could have bare skin in hardly any time at all by undoing them, but he'd have to step away to let the cloth fall to the floor around her ankles. Besides it was more…"fun" unwrapping her slowly and discovering the smoothness of her flesh as it was slowly revealed.

That night long and long ago had not revealed to him her naked skin. Initially it had been enough to shove clothing out of the way in his desire to punish her. Oh, he had gotten to see some of it, but through most of the night he'd been too close to see all of it and her hands, once latched to his arm and shoulder after the initial stab of pain never quite let go. And it wasn't to the last effort that he lost himself enough to forget neither had replacement clothing on hand, by then Sesshoumaru was too exhausted to focus on anything other than the connection with her.

Now was different. This time around he intended to do things right, even if he had to rush before his hunger drove him mad.

Rather quickly, Silver's silky blue dress was reduced to so many scraps littering the floor below her. Sesshoumaru had adjusted her boneless posture until her ankles crossed behind him and the pressure only stoked the fire further.

"Some metals are rigid," Silver panted breathlessly as Sesshoumaru pushed her from him minutely to stimulate a certain set of nerves a little more.

"A good quality in a weapon," he growled before stepping away from the wall of the master bedroom of her suite. With a relatively gentle kiss he placed her on top of the bedclothes before drawing back to see all the flushed skin he had liberated from the blue material.

Silver lay before him in her simple but attractive undergarments, Curious as to why he was staring at her from over there. Then Sesshoumaru smirked before removing most of his clothing in lightning fast clawing motions without care for the morning. She suspected if she were to bring it up he would smirk some more and tell her he had no intention of needing clothing again for a long time.

Just as Sesshoumaru began to prowl over her the phone on the nightstand rang shrilly.

Silver groaned before sitting up in preparation to answer the call. Sesshoumaru growled and pressed her back down to the mattress, keeping her there with the weight of his body. "Sess, I have to answer that!"

"Ignore it!" He growled again.

"Only the circle members have the number," she insisted as she pushed against him. "It could be an emergency."

"They will not interrupt this," he declared thoroughly impatient to finish the first round already. "They could just be trying to stop us."

"Sesshoumaru!" Silver yelled as the phone continued to ring. "Let me answer the damn phone. It's probably important."

With a growl of frustration he pushed her more firmly to the blankets. It was apparent this interruption would not be avoided. "Fine," he grumbled, relenting unhappily. "But I will answer it." He cut off her automatic protest with a firm kiss. "You would take too long being polite," he insisted before picking up the offending telephone.

"Silver?" a voice asked from the other end of the line.

"Is occupied," he declared shortly, at least she would be the minute this call ended. "State your business."

"Who is this?"

"That information has no bearing in this instance," Sesshoumaru growled irritably as he ran a fingertip across Silver's eyebrows. "What is the purpose of this call?"

"I want to know who the hell you are and where's Silver, asshole! How did you get into her suite and what do you think you're doing there?"

"Silver is busy, I was invited and what we were doing is none of your business," Sesshoumaru growled turning all his attention into the phone. "State your business and end this call."

"Look here you bastard! If you so much as-" the words cut off as the sound of yelling and a minor scuffle echoed down the line.

"Hello?" a new voice rang in his ear. "Silver?"

"Is occupied," Sesshoumaru was beginning to feel like a broken record.

"This must be Maruhama then. Sorry about Toji," an amused sigh traveled into Sesshoumaru's ear. "I told you the boy has a crush on her. Trank is giving him what for right now. He should have known better than to interfere with Silver when he's been so enjoying all the sudden attention," Steve Chuckled.

Sesshoumaru growled, impatient to hang up the phone.

"Right, well have fun, there shouldn't be any more interruptions," then the amicable horse hung up the phone, finally.

Sesshoumaru unplugged the phone for good measure before turning back to his mate…only to find Silver rolling over in her sleep.

"No," he whined. He reached out to shake her hoping to wake her easily and continue from the beginning if not where they'd left off only to find her dead to the world. Without her eyes open, without the intensity of her gaze and energy, she looked truly exhausted. He shook her again anyway, accidentally pricking her skin in the process, still she didn't wake.

With a frustrated sigh he raked a hand through his shortened hair as he pondered her sleeping face. He had two options at this point. It was either a cold shower or…he cursed under his breath. The problem with plan B was the insomnia and discomfort that accompanied it, but Sesshoumaru would rather lay beside Silver in the hope that she would awaken on her own in time to still thoroughly enjoy themselves than suffer the icy needles of a cold shower that would make it impossible for him to lay beside her the rest of the night. Silver wasn't likely to curl into something cold while she was awake let alone unconscious.

With another sigh he curled against her back, flinging an arm over her waist and holding her close, it was going to be a long night.


	11. The Gauntlet

Well, the job hunt continues on this the third day of the second week I have been in Texas. I did have a bit of a nibble earlier this week and a preliminary interview, but nothing came of it. That's all right, I really didn't want to be a manager of an AT&T office anyway. I'm sorry, but I'm quite fed up with customer service and the fact of the matter is If I were management I would feel kind of like I _had_ to stick around, you know? entry-level is much easier to replace than management.

Actually, in the past week, I've had two calls for positions in Detroit, Michigan. Seriously, why couldn't these calls have come through while I was still living in that state? I mean, I was there for two years after I graduated and I'm just now receiving offers? What the hell? oh well.

Ah yes, I had lots of wonderful reviews from you guys about how you _absolutely loved_ all the torment Sesshoumaru got put through in the last chapter. I loved it too. He's so much fun to torment! Unfortunately, by the end of this chapter, I think you'll find that his torment has quickly become your own. Sorry, but that's the way it happened when I wrote it. I will acknowledge here and now, before you get that far, that I am _truly_ evil. I give you leave to absolutely hate me for it. But the fact remains there will not be an early installment _just because_ you find yourselves horribly pressed by not knowing what happens next. Just be thankful it doesn't happen very often. buahahaha!

erm, yes, my periods of general evil are few and far between, Something Rumiko TAkahashi is usually good about as well, despite her failing to resolve ANYTHING at the end of the Inuyasha Anime. Seriously, the least she could have done is resolve a couple of the stupid triangles. If they'd gone just a few episodes longer, a few characters would have started getting killed off, Sesshoumaru's character would've been a little more developed, Tenseiga's power better explained, and his mother would have made an appearance. Yes she is alive and annoying. AS all parents must be in anime. Have you ever noticed that? Even Kagome's mother has her moments.

ah well, I cannot take responsibility for Sesshoumaru (though I torment him and made him mildly insane), Inuyasha (though I have aged him), Kagome (though I have made her a mother), Rin (though I have made her almost immortal), Shippou (though I pretty much ignore him), Kouga (though I have tamed him a bit), Ayame (though I have made her more violent), or JAken (though I have made him some kind of weird computer geek). You can't blame me for them. Unfortunately, everybody else is mine!

**The Gauntlet**

Five hundred years of torment and increasing insanity was a cakewalk when compared to the final day of the American trading negotiations. It wasn't enough that Sesshoumaru didn't get to re-consummate his shaky relationship with the mother of his pup. It wasn't enough that the morning light brought the intrusion of Silver's many colleagues to her room to ruin any chance of a _leisurely_ awakening. The many comments and speculations over a lacking scent in the air lead to a grumpy taiyoukai and a new name to be added to the hanyou's repertoire. There was no chance the name "Prince Valium" was going to die anytime soon.

All that was bad enough on its own, but that was only the start to his day. If he had actually managed to properly bed his mate the night before he doubted a repeat of the previous day's string of meetings would have seemed so irksome. True he wouldn't have liked having Silver closeted away with another male; it wouldn't have been as bad. Instead he was at odds, left hanging. He felt he hadn't completely reclaimed her yet and so his instinct practically demanded he keep her in sight at all times. The fact that Silver's many meetings had nothing to do with him whatsoever made this distinctly impossible.

It didn't help that each time he managed a brief glimpse of her, Silver was surrounded by suitors pressing their suit with increasing fervor and aggression as the end to this opportunity grew steadily closer.

Silver could not walk two steps before tripping over at least three of the fools. Sesshoumaru waited for her to look his way, to silently request he remove them. It would be a simple thing to reach out and reveal his mark. It would be easy and freeing, and she wouldn't let him do it.

She kept to her word, which meant he did too. He couldn't remember why he so admired this trait of hers. The last few times she'd done what she said, kept to her word, it had turned out badly for him. First, five hundred years ago, and now she was doing it again.

So Sesshoumaru kept his distance perfectly honest in acknowledging both the temptation of going that close to the detestable ribbon hiding his claim and the fact that Silver was most likely overwhelmed by the sea of amorous males she found herself set adrift in. His hair was beginning to show the wear of his hand running through it and his collar was creased where he continually pressed it into the mark underneath. He was stressed and the continued reassurance of this significant blemish on his throat flooded him with comfort every time it didn't disappear.

Perhaps he might have been a little less unsettled if Rissy had been sworn to the same agreement as the rest of the circle. Sometime after he had kidnapped Silver from the ballroom last night, Raoull had laid claim to his daughter and neither bothered to hide it. Raoull captured his mate at every opportunity, unknowingly rubbing in how unpleasant Sesshoumaru's situation truly was.

But neither Rissy nor her mother were ever free of their meetings for long and then both were locked away once again and Sesshoumaru was left to his own devices. Unlike the day before he didn't need to rely on others to distract him; he had a project to work on that was amazingly engaging.

Sesshoumaru had absconded with Jaken's laptop to do some rather pleasant plotting. He was determined to make his wishful thinking of the previous evening a plausible plan for the future. After the last few days, he was determined to manufacture their escape from responsibility, duty and interference from both his people and hers.

Besides, he was pretty certain from the hearsay communicated to him that Silver would need care and time to return to what she once was. He had personally seen that she had lost weight and never seemed to eat. Sesshoumaru would have to see about that. And of course there was the exhaustion to deal with as well.

All these issues would best be met in private, away from delegations and meetings. The fact that such mutual seclusion would insure the occurrence of a great deal of intimate activity he was currently craving had nothing to do with it.

Really it didn't, but it did keep him from hiring a full staff for the obscenely large yacht he just acquired on the Internet.

Sesshoumaru was well aware of the instincts driving his shopping spree. Without the instinct he might have bought a more modest boat, instead, being an inu and reunited with his mate (or newly mated depending on your perspective), he felt the need to offer her shelter. Of course that shelter (boat, house, cave or whatever) would have to be large enough to hold the future, he would settle for nothing less than huge. He was dead certain Silver would never finish a fertile period without bearing fruit. He was looking forward to it.

Of course he still had to convince her she wanted to go. Still, he could continue his plotting regardless of her first, second or third answer. Youkai live for a long time and he had no intentions of living without her any time soon. So there was lots of time to persuade her.

Just like there was lots of time in a day, too much to spend unable to touch, see or even converse with his own mate. Sesshoumaru was more than thankful for the progression of the sun across the sky. It was an obvious sign that this horrible day was nearing its much anticipated conclusion, because with the coming of night came the closing ceremonies and the end of this secrecy that kept him from publicly acting on his rites as mate.

There was only so much of Raoull's moping he could take while surrounded by the well-meaning sympathies of his retainer and Rin. If Sesshoumaru hadn't been so determined to be as close to Silver as possible without over crowding, he might have retreated to the arguable sanctuary of his assigned suite. Instead he stayed through the conclusion of Silver's last meeting and held back until all the lingering suitors were gently shooed away from the Circle.

Once there was no traitorous outsider in sight Sesshoumaru seized his chance to step forward and embrace his mate. He leaned forward to nose against the satiny ribbon at her throat. He knew touching it in public was risking her secret a little, but a few hours early couldn't be viewed badly. Besides, there was only the Circle and Raoull present; he feared not the assumptions they would make based on the affectionate gesture.

"Hey! Stop that!" Well, the circle, Raoull, and Jasper, the insufferable feline bane of his existence. "Silver's going to be mine!"

"Shut up, Block head! No catty sexual harassment poster child is worthy of my Silver Dollar," Trank snorted.

"Yeah, only someone who has proven themselves to be of good character and accomplishment would even be close," Toji declared haughtily. He still hadn't given up on marking Silver himself.

"Well that lets you out," Rissy scoffed.

"He was already out anyway," Trank glared at the wolf, daring him to protest.

"Yes, one cannot enjoy the pleasures of others when in the pursuit of one," Steve stated sagely. "I should think the fair Trank made that clear enough last night."

"He's got you there," Youta shrugged.

"You stay out of this!" Toji punched his brother.

"You leave your brother alone," Ayame smacked her son upside the head.

"Damn, Ayame," Inuyasha winced. She'd hit Toji hard enough that he stumbled into the hanyou and his mate a few feet away.

"Shut up, Inu," Kouga growled mildly. Ayame tended to get really violent around this time of her pregnancy. She'd been doing really well in curbing it around the representatives during the meetings. He was trying to limit opportunity for her to offend someone important by keeping her out of the common areas when not attending required events. But that wouldn't save Inuyasha any. Ayame wouldn't bother to hold back and Kouga would only give the one warning.

"Keh," Inuyasha crossed his arms with good humor. The little she-wolf couldn't scare him. Kagome could be violent all the time so he was used to it. Kagome made his point with a sharp tug on his hair in a display of pique.

"So what do we think about this last lot?" Kagome asked.

"_We_ think it best to wait for the discussion until we are back upstairs," Silver said meaningfully. Even the walls have eyes in a hotel full of such nosy, greedy…or rather the global arena of politicians was cutthroat. It was always best to limit the information leaked outwards while gathering as much information about others as possible, be that by duplicitous means then so be it. Too many lives were at stake to be squeamish about eavesdropping. Because of this it would be foolish to make any information easily accessible to outsiders.

"I don't want to waste any of the time upstairs," Kagome sighed. "Beni was upset before we came down this morning and we only have a couple hours to figure out why and fix it before we're all required to come back down for the closing ceremonies." Inuyasha tugged his mate into a loose hug.

Silver sighted and bowed her head wearily, forcing Sesshoumaru away from his 'work' over her mark. He growled under his breath at losing contact but stepped away anyway. "I'm sorry," Silver's tired eyes were sincere when she looked on Beni's parents. "I failed to speak with him this morning about what he saw last night."

"Enough with the apologies," Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"I very much doubt it is your fault Quick Silver," Steve winked. "You were quite distracted from what I saw."

"A stream of people gawking at her first thing in the morning would distract anybody," Rissy sniffed, defensive of her mother.

"Actually it was the stubbornness of two males that ultimately made it impossible to do it this morning," Silver tossed over her shoulder from where she led the procession to the elevators. "Beni refused to talk about it with Sesshoumaru present and Maruhama refused to leave."

Rissy Laughed, "You go, Dad!"

"Rissy don't encourage him," Trank scolded the teenager. "You know Beni's visions have a limited window of opportunity in which to avert disaster."

"Then why didn't anybody else talk to him, huh? Answer me that one," Rissy demanded.

"Beni," Silver paused a moment as they entered the lobby. "Is uncomfortable speaking about this with anyone else."

"Well, tough! He's got his own mom, let him bug her about it," Rissy declared, surprising everyone present with her sharpness. "He's got to stop running to you for everything beyond scraped knees and pinched fingers!"

"Beni is still very young-" Silver began to protest only to be cut off.

"And you're more than a little exhausted," Rissy snapped.

Silver gave a sad half-smile and sighed. "Youkai do terribly away from their mates, Inu youkai especially so. But gods, Gods separated from their mates for too long can die, slowly and painfully." There was silence as everyone crowded into the elevator. Jasper and the wolves stayed behind to catch the next car.

"So you've been dieing for the last fifteen years?" Rissy growled. Silver looked blandly on her daughter gripping Raoull's arm tightly. "Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I've misunderstood. Tell me you never felt anything worse than I did this afternoon when Raoull had to stay out of our meetings," She demanded.

"You're wrong," Silver replied gently and Rissy sighed in relief, prematurely. "I've been dieing for a bit longer than that."

Sesshoumaru squeezed her tightly in surprise.

"Rissy," Trank attempted to explain things a bit more. "Female gods generally don't live past nineteen or twenty without a mate or lover. She was sixteen when she was sent to Japan and already aware of her time limit. It was cut shorter with the death of her family."

"But," Rissy gasped in surprise.

"I had accepted that I was to die Rissy," Silver murmured stepping out of Sesshoumaru's arms to stand on her own. "But I did not want to have lived in vain. I saved Rin once, and I wanted to save at least one more person before I was done. So I decided to come home, to step into a job that would be unappreciated until long after I was done. I did not expect to last Fifteen years more."

"But you mated, you could have stayed," Rissy protested.

"Yeah right," Inuyasha snorted. Kagome tried to shush him but he'd had enough of the story to this point making Silver look unreasonable and stupid. "Sesshoumaru never gave her a reason to believe he wanted her to stay. Every time we saw them he was trying to get rid of her. Everything about her he took offense to." He steam-rolled over Kagome's attempt to stop him. "Whatever else your mother is she appears to every sense to be human, more so then than now and he hated the whole species except Rin. He barely tolerated your mom because of Rin. And that's just what _we_ saw." The hanyou ignored the look his brother sent him. "You wanted her to stay for that? To live longer, but barely tolerated all the while?"

"But he mated her," Rissy reasoned. Surely that made up for everything.

"Sex does not necessitate love," Trank snorted. "Inu are possessive and he believed she was a whore."

"Trank!" Silver said sharply over Sesshoumaru's growl.

"What, you know it's true!" Inuyasha exclaimed his ears twitching madly at the conversation. "I heard the names he called you."

"Dad?" Rissy asked quietly and it was Raoull's turn to squeeze her in offer of comfort.

Sesshoumaru looked his pup in the eyes; he refused to lie, but had never desired her to ever know the details of his former opinions or behavior towards her mother. In the end he didn't have to say anything, Silver grew tired of the subject and decided to end it.

"What's past is done and cannot be undone," she pointedly glared at the other occupants of the elevator as it reached the top floor. "People change over time and arguments grow old and forgotten."

"But mom-"

"It was a different place and time," Silver declared, permanently dismissing the subject.

"Keh," Inuyasha crossed his arms as Kagome cuffed the back of his head.

They waited quietly for the second elevator to arrive with the rest of their circle so they could finish their work.

"You shouldn't have said anything!" Kagome scolded the hanyou quietly.

"Hanyou in glass houses," Trank snorted under her breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded.

"It means you have no room to talk about Sesshoumaru's prejudices and mistreatment of someone undeserving of such punishment, Inuyasha," Kagome answered firmly.

"I never did anything-"

"Don't tell me you don't remember calling Kagome a shard detector?" Kouga scoffed as his family departed the newly arrived elevator car. "And lets not forget the undead ex girlfriend you used to-"

"Shut up, Wolf!"

"You didn't used to treat Kagome with much respect either, Kouga," Ayame snorted.

"Kidnapping, endangerment, selective hearing," Kagome ticked off on her fingers, "Repeated claims on my person without consultation or support for such unfounded sentiments. It was probably all Ayame could do not to hate me and all I could do not to purify you out of annoyance."

Kouga's face flushed with embarrassment that only deepened when Ayame nodded to reaffirm what Kagome had kindly glossed over. "It took almost five hundred years for you to finally grow out of that," the pregnant she-wolf snorted moodily. "By then it was too late to save my sons from your stupidity."

"So it would seem," Kagome sighed and Inuyasha snickered.

"Hey!" Toji and Youta protested vociferously. "I resent that!" Toji added defensively.

"No, you resemble that remark," Trank muttered.

"Can we get back to the important subject before regressing completely to three year olds that need a nap?" Silver asked mildly. Rissy looked entirely too upset by the conversation. The teenager's romanticized visions of love eternal were receiving a brutal beating under the verbal barrage. She had hoped to preserve it a little longer. "Who do we deem worthy of further trade?"

"Well I think 1, 2, and 7 are definitely out." Kagome answered using the numbering system agreed upon before each meeting. "1 and 7 are not looking for fair, mutually beneficial trade. This isn't about their people in their minds."

"2 quite obviously intends to use trade against us," Inuyasha shrugged. "They seek to get close enough to steal a bigger slice of the pie than we're offering."

"I wanted to kick them the whole time," Ayame grumbled. "1 and 7 were rude, but 2 was offensive."

Kouga snorted, "I don't trust 8. He hovered in the corner, listening to everything that was said like he was hoarding it away for something dark and twisted."

"He made me feel slimy," Rissy agreed. "Which is saying something considering the frog and toad were in 3."

"I liked them," Trank shrugged. "3 offered fair trade with respect. They didn't feel shame for their small territories meager offerings for trade. They put it out there and let us know what their people could use without giving away anything that could endanger themselves or their people."

"They looked us straight in the eyes, with pride in what they protected and respect that we had done the same for a larger area," Steve added.

"5 and 6 were a bit arrogant, but offered fair terms and honest words," Toji added and Youta nodded in agreement. "I don't like 5 much but they were straight with us and their people could us a little economic stimulation."

"What about 4?" Silver asked.

"I…" Kagome sighed. "The problem with 4 is that they have nothing to offer and they know it. Their people are suffering in poverty and their land has very little to offer them. I want to help them, but without trade it is charity, annexation or simply pointing out weakness."

"All three would lead to war that their people cannot afford nor adequately survive," Steve shook his head.

"You are wrong," Silver declared gently. "They have a sturdy honorable resource. We can help them." Trank blinked at her before a smile slowly began to develop as she figured out what Silver was getting at. "They have people. We cannot offer them money or goods for nothing, but people can and do travel without compensation. We can trade information."

"An exchange program!" Rissy clapped her hands in delighted joy. "We send people to learn from them and they send people to learn from us."

"Their territory is old, long-lasting," Trank smirked.

"I wonder if that legendary library really exists?" Kagome pondered aloud.

"And we could teach them better land husbandry for their terrain," Youta murmured.

"Oh thank god for that solution," Ayame muttered, shifting on her aching feet. "So that decide it then, regular trade with 3, 5, and 6 and the exchange problem with 4, agreed?"

"Agreed!" came the chorus.

"Great, now get me off my damn feet!" Ayame turned and walked down the hall.

"Yay, recess!" Rissy joked and twisted to squeeze the breath out of Raoull. "I got dibs on the monkey _bar_!" she stressed the singular.

Toji, Youta and Jasper flinched. "That is so wrong," Jasper declared. "Likening his weapon to monkey bars."

"Why not?" Trank asked. "It's playground equipment, isn't it?" Steve burst out in surprised laughter.

"Oh god," Kagome ducked her head with a groan.

"Perhaps we should have a go at the slide?" Steve suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Oh ew, ew, ew!" Rissy laughed, "The old people are talking dirty!"

Silver shook her head with a weary smile before leaving the lively group in the hall. Sesshoumaru followed her into the suite determined to keep her within sight as instinct demanded. He watched her open the door to her room and disappear inside so he followed to find her pulling back the blankets to lie down.

Firmly shutting the door behind him, he turned and pounced atop the blankets catching Silver under him carefully. Sesshoumaru nuzzled her neck, sliding his claw under the ribbon to pull it destructively away. His tongue snaked out to lick along the flesh of his mark with a contented rumble.

"Sesshoumaru?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice. He had realized earlier in the day that it would be best if he waited to properly bed his mate until after the evening's ceremonies and Silver's duties were done for the night. Two hours simply wouldn't cut it and that was all the time allowed free before this final address of the officials gathered here.

The issues raised on the elevator and Silver's dismissal of them drove him to ponder his original behavior once again. It was true that he had not treated her kindly. At the time he had believed her a liar and of questionable virtue and he had treated her as such. He had not remembered her name because he had never really used it to address her and he never wanted to remember the words he _had_ used in place of her name.

They say if a person hears something often enough, consistently enough, they come to believe it as truth. Over the course of his many years he had seen the reality of it and how it could help a person become stronger, more determined, more positive. But it could also be turned to negative results as well. Results that were all the quicker in their realization if the person perpetuating the repeated assertions was trusted and linked by affection to the person either being helped or hurt by the indoctrination.

Such was the relationship between she and he. He'd never been overly vocal, but he'd meant something to her and she trusted him not to lie.

How many times had he torn her down in the space of one year? Did she dismiss the past hurts because she had forgiven him or because she no longer believed she mattered?

"I wanted you," he growled gently in her ear. Best to start with something easy and establish this simple fact. "I may not have loved you yet, but I wanted you." Sesshoumaru rubbed his cheek over her hair. "I marked you because I wanted you to stay, but I had always wanted you."

"But-"

He rubbed his nose against her cheek. "I was foolish and prideful and wanted to keep you always. I knew you would keep your word. I knew you would leave as you'd said. It was one of your good qualities I never could keep myself from admiring." He chuckled and kissed her gently. "Perhaps I felt I deserved my punishment, I can't remember that part. But I know I'm not letting you go, though my sleep is forever interrupted by your restless movement in fear of your disappearance. I intend to stay right here, so don't give up on living." Silver blinked at him mildly. "You die, I die. You got that?"

"Don't be absurd," Silver scoffed.

"Five hundred years, Silver," Sesshoumaru nipped at her nose. "Surely I have paid the price to keep you for a bit."

"Now I know where Rissy inherited her drama queen tendencies from," Silver grumbled and attempted to push the inu to the side.

"Were you expecting to die when this event was through?"

Silver stared at him, eyes grown wide in horrified surprise.

"You didn't count on me coming for you, marking you," Sesshoumaru studied his mate as she looked away without a word. "If I had not come and reclaimed you. I would have lost you to death, not another male, wouldn't I?" Inuyasha had been right, Silver had no desire to live where she was barely tolerated and she had arranged so that she was no longer truly needed after this.

"That's it! You're not to go anywhere near Rissy again. You're worse than she is and might rub off on her!" Silver finally succeeded in pushing him away, and climbed to her feet. "I'm going to tell you what I tell Beni after one of his special nightmares: The future is not set in stone. What hasn't happened yet may never come to pass. Plans are merely directional arrows. Goals are destinations. Neither are necessarily followed or met so it matters not what they are until their path has been followed or destination met."

"I am not a child with nightmarish visions of the future," he growled. "And it is often said that it is the thought that counts."

"You can't discount words of comfort to a child and then use a different set that have been used for the same purpose," Silver declared in annoyance. "And your stupid fit has taken away my chances for a nap. Now all I have time for is a change of clothes." Silver grumbled, "A shower might have been nice."

"This Sesshoumaru will watch," he'd meant his words to be demanding and definitive; instead he sounded more like he was asking permission.

"Of course not," Silver snorted, breaking away from him to gather up the necessary clothing for this last formal nightmare. "You're angry with me for succumbing to my 'mortal weaknesses' and disgusted that I would even consider a permanent rest after struggling against my mortality for fifteen years. You don't even want to look at me, so you won't," she finished firmly, her tone solid with her conviction before she closed the bathroom door on him and the lock clicked into place.

He tried to tell himself that she had gotten away through some powerful devious means, but he knew better. All it had taken were the words he had repeated often, for him anyway. Sesshoumaru sighed as he allowed his forehead to press against the solid door. If he looked at things as percentages, more than seventy percent of the few things he'd said over the course of that precious year she'd traveled with him had been direct insults of her. And that was including all the words he'd spoken to Inuyasha and Naraku as well. How could she have even liked him let alone love him?

Silver abruptly opened the door so fast he nearly fell forward on her. It wouldn't have bothered him much beyond slight embarrassment but as he took in her elaborate coiffure he feared it might have knocked something out of place. Something that Silver would've closed the door to go fix. Her hair was held in place by unique metal bands, the like of which he'd never seen. Their burnished color burned against her dark locks and emphasized the delicate swirls of the same color throughout the dress she wore.

Sesshoumaru reluctantly stepped back to let her pass. She slipped on her shoes and walked into the common room before he caught up and took the shoes off her again.

"Sesshoumaru!"

"The shoes are uncomfortable," he declared mildly. No use in her wearing them longer than needed.

"Silver!" a voice cried before she was assailed upon by a small body determined to climb up to her ear. Carefully she swung the boy up to her hip as Beni's mother came down the hall like an approaching tropical storm. "Beni!" Kagome called sharply.

"Kagome," Silver said soothingly before turning to address her munchkin attacker surprised to find tears in his eyes. "Beni?"

"You didn't come talk to me," the tyke all but wailed. "You didn't come and now it's too late to fix it! The bad thing is going to happen!"

"Beni!" Silver cut him off with a tight squeeze. "It's all right. Bad things can happen, it's how we manage them that matters."

"What do you mean?" Beni wiped at his eyes while maintaining his grip on the strap of Silver's dress.

"Damage control, honey," Kagome explained as she tried to extract her son. Beni tightened his hold on his aunt's shoulders to prevent it.

"Damage control?" he asked.

"It's like when your friend Danny broke his arm," Silver explained. "His arm couldn't be unbroken but it could heal and the doctors put his arm in a cast to keep it lined up properly. Breaking his arm was a bad thing to happen, but putting a cast on it right away made it heal correctly so they wouldn't have to break it again."

"That made the bad thing less than it could have been," Kagome continued. "And he kind of liked the cast when you and your friends drew on it remember?"

"Damage control is just a way of keeping bad things from becoming worse." Silver's nose met the boy's. "But we have to stay calm and alert so we know when to act. Worrying about bad things that can happen is not a bad thing unless it prevents you from preparing for it, okay?"

Beni nodded and Silver tried to hand him off to Kagome. The boy would have none of it. "Beni you have to let go," Silver suppressed a chuckle. It wouldn't do to encourage him.

"I'm going too!" he declared firmly.

"Beni you know it's already past your bedtime," Kagome began firmly.

"I'm going," Beni growled at his mother. "Prepare for the bad thing, not ignore it!"

"Wha-" Kagome started.

Silver glanced between Kagome and Beni and raised an eyebrow at the speechless mom. Kagome huffed, "fine, you can go."

"Yumi too," Beni insisted.

"That's up to her-"Kagome began.

"She can go," Ayame cut her off. "If she finds herself an escort to look after her."

"I got Jasper," Yumi declared, tugging the neko after her, paying no mind to his protests.

"Yumi?" Kouga asked, surprised at her choice. He didn't think the cat was all that great a protector for his daughter.

"You need to watch out for mom and Youta and Toji have to watch out for themselves. Kira and Mira can make the circuit of the ballroom, and trust them not to be lax about it like Jasper," Yumi explained ignoring Jasper's protest. "Jasper can fight; we know that. After all, he always managed to beat the crap out of everybody we sent at him that wasn't Silver, remember?"  
Silver nodded and tried to hand off Beni once again. Again the tyke refused to let go. "Beni you have to let go. The immediate bad thing does not supercede the bad things that will come if we do not present ourselves correctly," she admonished him. Reluctantly he finally allowed her to pass him to his mother. "Shall we head down now?"

"Um, mom," Rissy spoke up as they neared the elevator. "Don't you think you kind of need shoes?"

"Uncle Sesshou stole them," Beni announced as part of the group climbed onto the first elevator.

Rissy snorted with laughter. "And he _will_ be returning them promptly," Silver declared shortly.

Beni squirmed from his mother's grasp as she climbed on the second elevator. Even as the door was closing the child stole Silver's shoes from the bigger male and gave them to Silver as they awaited the next car.

"Beni, you should have stayed with your mother," Silver murmured gently as she once again slipped on her shoes despite Sesshoumaru's growl.

"I'm staying near you, better damage control," the boy declared firmly. His words set Sesshoumaru on edge. It was apparent that whatever Beni had 'seen' meant bad things for his Silver.

"When we get downstairs, you will walk with your parents Beni," she cut off his protest. "They'll be right behind me and as close as you'll be allowed to get."

Upon arriving in the nearly deserted lobby the group organized itself much as it had at the opening ceremonies with some new additions. Steve escorted Trank. Rissy walked with her mate as Sesshoumaru escorted his. Toji and Youta chose no escort and all proceeded to the ballroom.

Their entrance went much as it had before, a steady walk through crowded tables towards the lighted area set up as the faux frontal focus of those gathered here. Respectful nods and pleasant compliments flowed from mouths of varying sincerity. And all Sesshoumaru wanted was to pull Silver out of the dangerous possibility of attack on all sides.

When Silver took the first step to the raised portable stage on which the Circle's tables was set, he thought perhaps the boy's timing was a little off, for surely if something were going to happen it would have in the midst of uncertain allies and enemies, where the confusion would offer the best chance of escape for the culprit. Then the shot rang out, deafening him in its proximity and the inarticulate screams it spawned. The vision of Silver falling up the steps blinded him to all else in the room. The tang of her blood pricking at his nose nearly brought him to his knees before he reached her to roll her over and red flooded his vision. She gasped and her throat worked and her discomfort and pain were visible on her face.

Sesshoumaru leaned down and nuzzled her cheek, aware there was very little that he could do at this moment. Was it all to end like this? Now, after he'd finally found her again? He couldn't have restrained his mournful whine if he'd been conscious of the sound he made at all...


	12. Devine Awakening

And so you've survived the weekend? I should hope so! Because this chapter is packed with all that goodness you _really_ needed to follow the ending las chapter. The situation is a explained a little more, the term "god" in this fic is a little more well defined, and the shooter is unmasked for their stupidity.

I'll not give away more than that, because it's better to just read it and because you've probably stopped reading this note the very moment you read the above!

So I'm going to ramble...

I love churches, you know that. I don't believe in organized religion. I don't care if there's an afterlife or if jesus was a prophet. I don't believe in someone else telling me what is valuable in life and I don't want anybody to save me. If I can't get somewhere based on my own merits, I don't want to go and I'm perfectly content for death to be the end of my everything.

And don't go trying to sell me your religion. I decided if it had to be sold I'm not buying.

But I do love churches. Such interesting architecture, the materials, the colors, the angles. but most of all I find it absurdly amusing that for a building in which little else but prayer and ceremony is supposed to take place, there are soooo many distracting things to look at. Most churches of a historical nature inspire awe upon entry, not because of its being a house of worship, but because of the architecture. You step inside one of the older churches and the great spaces and minutely detailed stain glassed windows draw you attention first, not because of what they mean but because of what they are, huge and colourful. In a stained glassed window you notice the colors before you notice what it depicts beyond it's shape, because color and light are eye catching and unusual.

In modern churches the windows are far less detailed but no less colorful. My aunt and uncle with whom I am staying are "church people". I got nothing against church people, not really. I will not present and example that might influence my younger cousins to give my aunt and uncle trouble in taking them to church. Because of this I have been dragged to church the last two Sundays. I'd rather sleep, but if I did the thirteen year olds would take it into their heads to insist upon the same then I'd be stuck watching them, so I go. I do not partake of the religion or bother to pray or sing or really pay much attention, but I do sit respectfully still and silent. I pay enough attention so that I'm not caught sitting when I'm supposed to be standing and in this general inattention to the speaking and the praying and the other indoctrination tools I notice the floor in how its steps up to where the sermon is given are different in reference to the ones up to the center. I notice the angles and the windows and the imperfections in the pews. I rather like churches best when they are empty. There's very little quieter than a church not in use. for who goes there outside of the organized prayers? It is darker and the windows stand out more in their colors.

I have yet to be inside a synagogue or any other religious building, (besides the nondenominational buildings on military bases, they get used for everything) but I fancy they are much the same, with architecture not used in the construction of hardly any other building, with great spaces and interesting angles and colors (decorative or utilitarian). Just because of this doesn't mean I'm going to go crashing other people's houses of worship. I have enough respect for other people to not intrude without cause even though I don't hold with organized religion any wear.

but enough of that. my religious views or lack there of are immaterial. I believe in the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. I believe in the friends I have and the air I breath, and that is quite enough for me. Some people need more and I aknowledge them as people as worthy and great as ever I may or may not perceive myself. Different is good. AFter all, if all my characters were the same you'd be quite bored with this story already!

But of course not all the characters presented herein are mine. Rumiko Takahashi must take credit for Shippou, Inuyasha, Kagome, Kouga, Ayame, Rin, Jaken, and (though it depresses me to say it) Sesshoumaru.

**Divine Awakening**

The whole world could have imploded at that moment and Sesshoumaru would not have noticed until long after it took him with it. Silver continued to gasp and bleed and there was little that he could do about it.

Oh, he could stitch the wounds, be thankful the bullet hadn't stuck in her tissue or simply clean her skin of sweat and blood. He had the knowledge and enough practice to do the job, that wasn't the problem. He just knew it wouldn't do a smidge of good.

Humans had not been the only ones to use new technologies for advancing the tools of making war. Their eternal question of what could be created or developed had likewise infected the youkai mindset. And mortal disregard of consequences, inattention to the applications of certain knowledge was an ill the longer-lived species had catered to as well.

There were guns – with special ammunition – that could kill a demon with one shot. The delivery system and chemicals varied but the result was always the same. Youkai had unusual allergies, few were completely universal, but the ones that were had lethal effects. Humans got hives, had trouble breathing, watered at the eye; disgusting symptoms to be sure but each could be treated, healed or prevented with the application of chemicals developed for this purpose. Youkai had no such measures to take. Reactions were immediate, swift, painful and deadly.

The time in which these youkai killers had been used had been short in duration and had resulted in such loss of powerful youkai that Sesshoumaru had taken over stewardship of Korea, parts of China, and other territories on the surrounding land. The ammunition was banned by the United Youkai council, research halted, and caches destroyed.

But there were still a few around to be found, the appeal of a long-range weapon of lethal quality was appealing to oppressed youkai of lesser strength and honor. It was a favored tool amongst unaffiliated assassins, as no lord-sanctioned assassin would ever sink to use such illegal means. That and there was little use for assassinations in the youkai world of today. Only the mentally deranged would be stupid enough to create such a power vacuum around the humans of modern times.

Still, for all things on a black market, there would always be some fool willing to risk all. Apparently Silver's attacker was such a fool. Sesshoumaru could smell the chemical in the air interlaced with the smell of the bullets ejection from the gun chamber as it was released on the tender flesh of his precious mate. He could never forget the smell of it, having lost many an honorable and valued soldier to it before the weapons were banned. He'd cast his lot in with the faction that clamored for its destruction in hope to never smell it in use again. And now…

He'd watched many others fall to the chemicals, whichever one had been dug up for use on Silver. He knew what would happen next and the pain in his heart helped the images from memory choke him up as the thought that he would have to watch the same happen to someone so very precious to him.

"Move Uncle Sesshou!" Beni shoved at the older inu. "I have to get through!"

Sesshoumaru all but snarled at the boy his anger at the child's disrespect compounded by his unwillingness to move from Silver's side.

"Uncle Sesshoumaru," Yume tried to soothe him. "Beni and I can help, but we have to get close to aunt Silver."

"What are you talking about?" Jasper demanded his eyes warily watching the commotion created in the wake of the gunshot. He'd been charged with watching the little brat and he would do it. Besides, if anything in that mass of fearful politicians came her way they were coming his way too. He liked living just fine. "There's nothing to be done."

Yume snorted at him. "Never ever tell a god what she can or can't do. Aunt Silver can survive this with Beni's help. Beni can easily find and remove the impurity with a little help, stupid!"

Sesshoumaru shifted reluctantly away from his mate, retaining his grasp on one of her hands. He was grasping at straws. Her pain so very real to him he was willing to leap at any farfetched hope thrown his way regardless of its source.

"Who's going to help him then?" Jasper scoffed. "You?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Yume demanded indignantly. "A god is born with all his or her power unlike youkai who grow more powerful with age. Instead a god gains more control over his or her abilities through maturity and experience. Beni has the ability but his control isn't very good yet. Because his control needs more growing into he uses more energy than he might after a few more years of practice."

"So?" Jasper brushed aside her little lesson impatiently. "What's that got to do with you?

"Look here you jackass! I may not yet have access to my power as a god, but the power is there and Beni can tap into it, you jerk!" Yume huffed. "Now stop bugging us! We have to rout out the problem quickly!" The young teen turned an offended shoulder on the neko as she settled behind Beni and place her palms against the back of his shoulders.

"This is gonna hurt a little," Beni informed his gasping Aunt gravely the way his mom would tell him the rubbing alcohol would sting on his scrapes.

Silver rolled her eyes closed and heaved a deep breath ignoring the squeeze Sesshoumaru delivered to her fingers amidst his anxiety.

Sesshoumaru couldn't continue to watch this. Hope had been his enemy through much of his life, more so than Naraku or the youkai that sought to steal his power and place. And, as this hope was flimsier than most had been in his past, he couldn't force himself to watch it fail. He would know when it failed, the slow absent pulses Silver's limbs suffered from the pain would warn him of their slowing through his possession of her hand. When Beni gave up he would cry or whine or react in some other childish hard to miss fashion and then Sesshoumaru could resume his close position with his mate when she began to fall into the later most painful stages of the toxins at work.

Instead he allowed himself to watch as the main body of the room cleared.

Many of the delegates that had been sent for negotiations were not predators. They were prey, typically kin of animals that planned for long winter months. Squirrels, rabbits, mice and all manner of other such youkai were good for trade negotiations because of this tendency. They were better able to plan ahead, keep their calm, and generally offer unassuming conditions and seemingly honorable offers. They did not respond well to threats, blood, or the smell of fear. It was in their nature to panic or run and hide.

Their attempts to do so were met with little success. The Circle and their people had locked down the ballroom to prevent the escape of the shooter and there was little in the room to offer much comforting cover considering the room was filled with round folding tables and chairs. There was no buffet table this night as there had been the first night and the stage was too obviously the scene of the worst of the violence.

Their panic threatened to set off the predators that had come, most with the intention of courting or aggressive trade (with the intent of screwing over the Americas in most cases). They followed after their natural prey increasing the panic those youkai felt in the situation.

It was a big mess threatening to blow up in everybody's faces, but at the center of it all stood the fool with the smoking gun. It would have been easy to get lost in the fray, to discard the weapon in some lamp smoking over its sweet smelling oil and cause a quick disastrous explosion.

But the shooter was a fool, Dishonorable and crazed. After all, Serafina had already once been ejected from this continent after losing an honorable fight of her own instigation. And it was clear from her smirk that she felt no shame in her behavior.

It was obvious to Sesshoumaru that Rissy was plenty pissed off about this whole thing. The pup held her mother in high esteem unusual of a girl her age. Silver was the only parent Rissy had known growing up despite the efforts made to build a family support structure around the child when she was younger. As the teen had said when she drove him to their family home, she'd only ever had Silver. It stood to reason that with an inu's instinctive protectiveness for pack and family, Rissy wouldn't take the shooting of her mother very well.

"How dare you come back here!" the newly mated teenager growled. The force of her anger carried her voice through the instantly quieting crowd. Raoull wisely stood behind her. Serafina had gone beyond his ability to shield her and his mating kept him from the attempt. Rissy wouldn't easily forgive this and he couldn't blame her.

Sesshoumaru blinked as one of the decorative lamps serving as center piece on a random deserted table behind Serafina exploded, the sudden flash of light and heat lighting the white table cloth on fire, melting the shards of broken glass and mangling the elegant silverware beyond recognition.

"You were ejected from these proceedings for your behavior already!" Rissy snarled.

Another lamp erupted a bit more violently than the first, sending sparks to the nearby tables in a warm spray.

"You bring dishonor to your people and your family," Steve declared evenly. "Going against the results of a challenge you initiated."

"Digging up illegal weapons," Trank added scornfully as she attempted to close in on Rissy. Steve was attempting to hold her back from the situation with little success.

Rissy flashed a warning glare at them before reverting her glare to the defiant bitch still refusing to feel shame at the wrongs she had done. It was clear Rissy wanted to bring Serafina down personally. "You came without invitation!"

Another lamp exploded. This time it occurred a bit too close to the youkai hugging the walls for comfort. Trank shook her head before dipping her finger in the nearest glass of water. The fluid snaked out of its container to find and connect with more water, wandering about to gather more of itself before licking at the flames of the nearest table fire. Instantly much of it turned to steam upon meeting with the dancing redness, but the fire was wetted down and put out. Effective and quick, but not quick enough.

"What did you come back for bitch?" Inuyasha demanded under his breath as he and the wolves worked to keep the guests out of the fray. Kagome bustled about calming fears and soothing burns where she was able.

"That – THAT WHORE tried to steal my Sesshoumaru!" Serafina screeched. "He's mine!" 'Her Sesshoumaru' winced as she hit the high note of his name in her typical fashion. He wanted nothing more than to rip his poisoned claws into her flesh until they came out the other side for the insult he laid upon the name of his precious mate.

He wasn't the only one to feel that way about her words. Three more lamps exploded close enough to the screeching female to burn her skin with flying debris. The dishonorable female was actually surprised by the sudden attack on her person.

"My MOTHER was never a whore! She was marked," Rissy hissed. It was apparent that the teen was more than tired of hearing that detested word uttered in connection with the woman who had both given her life and purpose without asking for anything in return. If Sesshoumaru hadn't been tethered to Silver's wounded form and had the power to ignite the flames that destroyed the table lamps himself, Serafina would certainly be a flaming tower of screeching, dying flesh.

"By all that is holy, Serafina, Don't say another word," Raoull groaned. He really shouldn't have said his sister's name. Rissy wasn't likely to bear hearing the name anytime in future let alone right now and their mating was quite new. She was already angry and beyond the point of caring that the little bitch was his sister. He was her male.

It was the last straw. And it was quite visibly so.

Rissy's rage stole her ability to create intelligible words and accusations. Everybody had that line they drew in the sand, hers had been more than stepped over. Serafina had smudged it all to hell, obliterated every trace that there had ever been a Rissy that wasn't thoroughly pissed at the high-pitched freak youkai that was her mate's sister. And the fire took over. Flames licked at her skin, engulfed her whole and flared from her eyes; it fed upon her anger and filled the whole room with light. She was unaware that Raoull had been forced to back away from the heat she gave off.

It was then that Serafina finally figured out her frying pan had altogether disappeared and there was only the fire left to catch her. Her shallow life flashed before her eyes in rapid flashes of stupidity and meaninglessness.

Trank shot Steve a troubled look. It was plain Rissy's upset had set loose her newly released power and her element was an exceedingly difficult one to tame or control. Trank wasn't going to be able to put out the fires fast enough to keep this from turning into a full-fledged disaster. And no one could get close enough to Rissy to calm her down.

Sesshoumaru's attention jolted from his observation at a sharp tug on his hand. He turned quickly only to find Beni focused on the noxious droplets of the removed chemical hovering under his hand while Yume panted as she leaned against Jasper. Silver had seemingly disappeared. His alarm flooded his system with adrenalin and he quickly turned back to his daughter, some sense telling him that it was the only place she could be.

Silver wrapped her arms about her precious little girl, her metallic skin tinted red from the heat of her daughter's flame. She had never liked cold, she mused, but Rissy was almost warm enough to make her melt. Quietly, mother whispered reassurances soothingly in the ear of her daughter. Carefully calming a child upset on behalf of a beloved parent.

Rissy's calm was quick in the achievement, signified by the shift in her coloring and temperature. It was so quick in fact that Silver had to step away for fear of burning her daughter with the residual heat left in her skin.

Silver glanced out over the wreckage of the ballroom and with hardly a glance raised metal domes over the worst of the flames to snuff them out. The metal, stolen from the mutilated silverware and lanterns and damaged folding chairs flowed like water as Silver willed it. It was how the stunned Serafina inexorably found herself properly bound with chains then swept up in a metal mesh to the ceiling where she could be kept out of the way. "We will deal with you later," Silver spoke softly. "First we must see to our guests and the finishing of this more exciting than planned gathering. I am certain there are many here who would like nothing more than to be on their way home. You'll have to excuse us as we set the room to rights though." She sighed wearily.

"We got it Silver, grab a chair," Inuyasha suggested.

Silver almost managed to blow him off, intending to at least help remake some flat ware and lanterns. Her affinity for metals would make the sculpting easy, and replacing them would be less expensive if she did it herself. At least that is what she attempted to do.

"Silver, Sit down!" Trank ordered her so sharply Silver's knees appeared to buckle on the spot. She fell completely out of sight behind the tables and bodies moving to the required work done. "Silver!" The elder youkai cried in worry just before Silver came back into view perched on a metal chair that had seemingly formed up from the floor of its own volition. "Show off," Trank huffed in affectionate annoyance.

Silver gave her a tired smirk. "I don't know why you're so worried. It's not like I've never been shot before."

"Heh, this time is different, so move your seated ass out of the way," Inuyasha gruffly answered. "We'll take care of this, you go sit and look pretty."

"That will be very difficult," Silver rolled her eyes, willing her sculpted chair towards the stage area. "I happen to really suck at it."

"How can anybody suck at sitting in one place and doing nothing?" Jasper scoffed at her declaration.

"It's the doing nothing mama sucks at," a weary Rissy answered as she approached her seated parent.

"Are you all right Marissa?" Silver asked her daughter in concern causing the teenager to look at her as if she were an alien. Out of everybody present the only person that shouldn't be _asking_ that question was Silver. "You seemed quite upset."

Rissy rolled her eyes. Her mom had just been shot; one would think that would be cause enough to through a bit of a tantrum. "You got shot, of course I was upset." Silver gave her daughter a look that Sesshoumaru completely seconded. It was clear both to him and apparently his mate that the girl hadn't really lost her cool when Silver was shot.

Rissy seemed to have come to the conclusion that, if she had previously not known it, this was the case and her concerned, recovering mother already knew it. She seemed to ponder this long and hard a few moments before reaching a mischievous decision judging by her expression.

"Rissy?" Silver raised wary eyebrows at the grin she spotted on the younger females face. Even so, she allowed her little girl close enough to kiss her cheek and hug her tightly. It was as Rissy pulled away that she learned what plot her daughter had planned. "Not likely to happen again now."

In straightening up from the angle she had bent to hug her precious mother, Rissy had dragged a razor sharp claw carefully over the ribbon concealing past and present claims. Rissy had no qualms breaking the news to the already shocked youkai gathered there. It was clear to Sesshoumaru that she was just as annoyed by the rude terms questioning Silver's honor as he was, if not more so. Now the evidence was plain for all to see. Silver was his and, in comparing the old and new marks, had been for quite a long while. And nobody was about to question his honor or taste in females. Sesshoumaru was quite old enough and strong enough to mop the floor with most anyone stupid enough to attempt it.

Although, the one person to step forth and deck him came as quite the surprise. But then he should have known Rin's ice god wouldn't take lightly the knowledge that a rare female god had been mated, marked and left alone by him. Sesshoumaru could only suppose that the reason Manitoya hadn't attempted to make inu youkai sausage out of him was because it would let on to the other youkai present that Silver was in worse shape than she was. That and the fact Silver would be hurt as much as he was should he perish under Manitoya's wrath.

There was an entire subculture for gods in their rarity and differences from regular youkai, just as there was a subculture based on species and territories. Sesshoumaru was fairly unfamiliar with the inner workings of it, but he did know that females were generally well guarded once detected. That Silver never had been was a bit of a mystery. One he was currently choosing to ignore.

Rissy did not escape unpunished for her bit of playfulness either. Kagome zapped her and removed all the hair coloring she had used to dye her hair. The miko smirked at Rissy's protest and the evening progressed calmly from there.

Sesshoumaru stood by through the empty formalities required during the closing ceremonies of such a gathering, his clawed hand resting gently over Silver's shoulder where she continued to rest in her self-made chair. The others of her circle had insisted she remain seated and excused her to the delegates that remained after the doors had been once again opened. Most of the poor weaker youkai had left without much remorse and Silver was clearly willing to excuse them for their continued unease as she failed to remark on such a marked display of disrespect.

Quickly the formalities were finished and Sesshoumaru watched as Silver let Serafina down from the ceiling to stand on the floor, the mesh melting away until only chains were left to bind her from escape. "If the members of the United Youkai Council could stay a bit longer, the issue of Serafina needs to be addressed," Silver declared gently causing several youkai to return to their recently vacated seats.

Serafina snarled at Silver's approach. Her spirit and ire restored by the time spent in which she had not been dealt any injury while glued to the ceiling. Silver quirked an eyebrow at her attacker, "Are you familiar with the most telling difference between gods and other youkai, Serafina?" Her tone was quiet and deceptively gentle, as if imparting some gem of gossip or wisdom. She continued on without giving Serafina the chance to respond. "A god no matter how weak or strong, no matter what flavor or shape, gender or upbringing, can always manipulate the elements he or she has the most kinship with from a distance. In other words, though a youkai can gain the strength of power of a god, never will a youkai be able to move anything without touching it, but a god will always be able to do so." Her words were warning delivered without the edge that usually marked a threat.

"She means, bitch," Inuyasha snorted, certain Serafina wasn't smart enough to get the point. "You either behave yourself or the gods in this room will most likely get you before you have a chance to breath wrong in any direction."

"Inuyasha, hush," Kagome scolded the hanyou. "You know only Silver is supposed to speak once the council have been called."

"It's alright Kagome, we have to first establish who will speak on your behalf anyway," Shippou smiled gently. "Lord America has to be identified to speak in this case or it can't be presented."

"If you were paying attention moron, she just identified the Lord of the Americas," Inuyasha scoffed.

"I would have thought everybody had figured it out yesterday," Rissy blinked at Trank. "That assassin guy certainly wasn't quiet about it."

"His assertions were unsupported and unverified," Silver answered. "A formal organization such as the United Youkai Council cannot proceed based on hearsay. Especially if the source is perceived as deranged and somewhat lunatic."

"Well, he was that," Rissy shrugged.

"The official Lord of the Americas right now is me," Silver informed the gathered youkai. "As the lord of the Americas and the injured party, I request the right to punish my attacker on behalf of the injuries and for danger presented to my people because of her unwarranted and dishonorable behavior. I present charges for your consideration: Violation of the sanctity of peaceful negotiations, illegal entry of a foreign territory without invitation, attempted assassination of an unarmed lord, _and_ disregard for the rules of challenge established by tradition and amended by the rulings of this very council."

"What about the possession of illegal arms?" an old lioness asked in curiosity.

"I stand before you alive. I have no proof the accused was fool enough to attempt the use of such contraband," Silver replied evenly.

"I don't need your mercy, slut," Serafina snarled.

A weary and tiny growl sounded from the space on the stage the Beni claimed as his own. The angry boy threw the "contraband" he'd extracted from his precious aunt at the bad woman what refused to behave. She deserved a bit of her own medicine.

"Beni!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise. To startled for the anger to properly build behind it.

A wall of metal rose up to shield the chained youkai, only to seemingly collapse in on itself upon impact, wrapping the noxious chemical safely, seamlessly inside a handful of tiny thick-walled spheres. "Beni, I will not scold you for this, but I will ask Kagome to see to it you are kept from your sweets for an appropriate period of time," Silver shook her head. "She will scold you properly, most likely for the duration of your punishment."

"But she tried to _hurt_ you!" Beni whined. The child was quite obviously tired and fighting to keep awake. He didn't understand and explanations could not be given in company of strangers.

Silver shook her head and motioned for Kagome to take him from the room. "I apologize. My people have been hurt and are protective of what security and comfort they have found, comfort that is symbolized by our circle and myself. That was threatened today and I would be remiss to fail them by allowing Serafina to go unpunished for it." She sighed softly as she turned her eyes to meet each council lord whose vote would decide Serafina's fate. "I do not seek her death. I was not killed, my people were not harmed, but I would desire insurance that something like this cannot happen again. Her actions had the potential to start a war our world can ill afford. I want peace of mind for myself, my people, and for others as well. And I have the means to do it without causing permanent physical harm as we do not desire to render Serafina incapable of ruling her people when the time comes."

"Serafina is not her father's heir, Raoull is," a gruff male youkai spoke up in confusion.

"Not any more I'm not!" Raoull chuckled.

Silver gave him a significant look. "Allow me to clarify. Raoull has mated my daughter, Rissy," she smiled proudly at her daughter. "AS you witnessed earlier, their mating has released her powers as is typical of a god of her gender. Her power is great but she has not had the chance to master its control. Until she has, she needs to remain in an environment she is comfortable with surrounded by the people she loves and trusts, so Raoull will most likely stay here long into the future. The Americas are quite large enough for one territory," Silver chuckled. "We have no desire to add to it so Raoull's native territory will need to find itself another heir." She shrugged minutely, "sad as it may be, Raoull's mother has long been ill. Her illness has prevented her from producing any other offspring than the male and Serafina."

"God help us," Ayame muttered.

"She's trying," Rissy smirked.

"Hush, Rissy," Trank went to cuff the teen and Raoull stopped her with an indulgent smile.

"Catches on quick," Steve chuckled.

Silver stared them all down; their disruptions were not appreciated, even if Shippou was snickering in the second row. "Now that we're on the same page, I propose a corrective punishment that will help Serafina to better see the consequences of her actions _before_ it can lead to disaster. She will still make mistakes; can still be immature and a bit deluded and inexperienced, but her threat will be minimized. Serafina can still be an effective leader for her people given time and training. Perhaps this punishment will help."

"From what you're saying doesn't seem like much of a punishment," grumbled a rather slithery lord that seemed to sit in the only dark spot in the ballroom.

Silver smiled secretively at him and raised an eyebrow. "The decision before you is whether I can deliver punishment, whether Serafina deserves my wrath. The method of punishment is my decision and holds no standing in yours beyond the knowledge that I will not kill her."

"I believe punishment has been earned, the one attacked has the right to deliver it as she sees fit," the lioness declared firmly. "The injured lord has assured us the punishment will not be lethal, a necessity now that Serafina stands as heir to her father's territory, and by the pressing of her people it will not be too lenient either. I vote we allow this."

"The evidence is clearly in America's favor, I agree," the gruff youkai from before spoke his decision. Many others voted in much the same vein. It was hard to contest what they had all been present for and witness too. It was irrefutable that Serafina had attacked Silver. It was equally undeniable that Serafina had gone back on the results of a challenge all had likewise viewed.

"Get away from me you bitch!" Serafina spat at Silver, causing the approaching god to pause briefly before reaching out with a single finger to brush against her brow. Sesshoumaru tensed at her close proximity to the other youkai, but as a member of the council, he could not interfere.

"I deliver unto you a cursed gift. From now on you shall know the consequences of your decisions when you first contemplate them," Silver shook her head. "In demonstration, suppose you had succeeded in my murder."

Serafina's pleased smirk at the thought dissolved when a scream of pain ripped from her lungs. "You died," Silver stated dispassionately and shook her head. "What of the youkai for whom you would kill me?" the moment Serafina's scream ended, heartbroken tears began to fall. She obviously did not like what she saw. "This does not look like love. What of your family?" Her look of horror spoke volumes of what she thought. Silver grimaced in sympathy, "Not what I would like to happen to my family. What would become of your people?" By now Serafina appeared rather numb, "War."

Silver stepped back from the stunned female, her chains melting away, no longer needed to contain the insensate female already slumping without their added weight. "Toji, will you see to it Serafina makes it back to her parents in one piece? She has a lot of growing up to do and I rather she do it some where else." The wolf in question nodded solemnly and stepped forward to escort the now tractable youkai from the ballroom. "Now I would like to announce my retirement."

"What!"

"Mom?" and general stunned silence met these words.

"Rissy and the circle are more than capable of governing my people. I am tired and unwilling to see another situation arise where someone has taken offense to my apparent humanity or the results of this gathering," Silver sighted tiredly. "I never wanted the job, not really. Now that it is done, now that my people are steady and comfortable; my job is done."

"Besides, Sesshoumaru was going to kidnap you for the next few years anyway," Inuyasha snorted. He grinned when Trank popped him in the gut. "That is, if he can keep her awake for it anytime soon." Rissy kicked him in the ankle for that one.

"We cannot stop you any more than we can stop Sesshoumaru from such actions," the lioness from before spoke up. "I suspect you will dispense advice to your compatriots if they ask. Don't be surprised if we call on you to mediate transitions of power in the future. You have done amazing things in your territories in an amazingly short amount of time." She hefted herself from her chair with a grunt as aged bones ground against each other. An old cat that knew the value of rest. "You deserve your rest, be well former lord of the newly consolidated Americas," she spoke again as one of the oldest members of the council began to lead the UYC from its make shift court.

Each youkai who had attended this event was certain this last night would be long remembered and spoken of, as Silver was likely to be a gossip favorite far into the future. Sesshoumaru watched his peers filter out of the old ballroom silently until the last was gone from it. Then he snuck up behind his mate and caught her up in his arms, determined that finally he was going to enjoy having a mate.


	13. And Life Goes On

Ah, 'tis the end of another one. This fanfic is on it's last chapter, and as usual I do this strange little epilogue thing.

I've noticed, in the course of writing these fanfics that I generally like to have my stories come full circle. Chronicles began with a journey in order to hide and ended with an efort to uncover something hidden. And this begins and ends with a trip to visit the American lord. wow. Of course that is merely simplifying things for the purpose of illustrating my point. Each story ends with a new beginning after a gap of time in which life has been lead. It is not particularly orignal as a lot of authors do that.

In fact some authors tend to do it in a most unbelievable fashion. "And they all lived happily ever after." God I hate that ending. Mostly because it's bullshit. in order to have joy one must have sorrow. The prerequisite of happiness is sadness. And no matter how much difficulty is suffered through the course of the story it is not enough to create happiness all the rest of their days. They _might_ wind up content for life but not joyfully happy. In most cases, children are considered a standard part of this future happiness, and children supply frustrations and worries all their own unless they go poof after they're born and rematerialize later as well-adjusted full grown individuals that have nothing to do with their parents. In which case, what's the point of having them? So really, "happily ever after" is a myth, a curse for all that is real. the "happily ever after" disease causes discontent when it doesn't happen for us and I want no part in its perpetuation! Thus the epilogue in which there is both joy and hardship in future and past. AFter all the rollercoaster is not half so fun if it only goes up!

Ah, my rambling! Such fun. These are the things you think of when you're bored. AT least you do if you think in your spare time. If you don't you simply think it is weird that anybody does. I never understood why more people refuse to think than find it fun but have come to acknowledge that this is very much the case. So sad!

I bet Rumiko TAkahashi is familiar with this, after all, she came up with Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Kouga, Ayame, Shippou, Rin and JAken in the course of thinking for thinking does not require only facts to be considered. and I bet you're all glad that I'm so fond of thinking in that I wrote this and my other fics. I'm glad too. It gives me something to do on days there's not much else.

Enjoy your last chapter of Silver and Sesshoumaru. I have only one other fic I began years upon years ago. I may or may not ever bother to post it. It's not quite as good as this and my other fics and would require a great deal of revamping before it could be made presentable for public consumption. And I would likewise have to finish, so don't expect it. I've decided to spend most of my time in a different vein, still writing of course, but in a new branch. i'm going to try something original. Who knows, maybe it'll be good!

_quick little note as of November 22, 2007 -_ I'm actually toying with the idea of a sequal to this piece. I am content with where it's at, but I love these particular characters so well and I leave it so open that I feel a sort of urge to write more with them. Actually, whenever I'm struggling with my original story efforts I find myself leaning back towards writing more of this. Tell me what you think and I'll take it into consideration...but only if you say something.

**And Life Goes On**

The great white plane bounced gently off the frigid concrete runway before fully running all three of its landing wheels along the frozen tarmac, the brakes slowly working to bring the mass of metal to a more sedate speed under the tender coaxing of the pilot. Sesshoumaru silently pondered at how remarkable it was that he no longer felt his unvoiced unease. His stomach didn't curl and heave, his nerves didn't strain and snap, he just barely noticed the quick change in altitude and speed. It was…inconsequential, a footnote and held no bearing in the quiet somnolent bliss carelessly supported by the equally unconscious female at his side.

That's right, he had contentedly slept through the landing without even trying. Sesshoumaru's anxiety over flight had died an unmourned death, silently by the wayside of his progressing life.

It hadn't taken much. He'd just found something to bother him a lot more. After all, planes were hellishly tame compared to the helicopter he was forced to use all too often now that he'd taken up residence somewhere other than a terra-based building easily accessible and reachable by his advisors and subjects and stockholders.

When he'd first returned, he'd wanted nothing more than to ignore any responsibilities that didn't have to do with the care of his long absent mate. He almost had, until Silver found out. At the first report that someone was encroaching on his territory, attempting to steal what was his under the distraction of a "new" mating, Jaken had made certain to tell him in front of Silver. When he failed to produce signs he intended to go take care of the problem, she had blandly offered to go "fight for his people if he would not."

He'd taken his frustration over the matter out on the fool that had torn him away from connubial bliss. Sesshoumaru had in that moment learned what Trank had meant when she'd said Silver "was strong because her people needed her to be." Silver was fully prepared to take the wheel from him if he refused to drive, even if she could ill afford the taxing efforts of a fight after her recent injuries.

Thus the numerous trips on the accursed helicopter.

Despite how much he hated it; he was glad the boat he'd acquired was big enough to afford the deck space required for the helicopter pad otherwise he would have been forced to spend more time away from Silver than absolutely required.

Truly when he bought the thing he had not imagined it to be quite as big as it was. Yes, he had believed it to be a huge yacht, but it turned out that "yacht" was incredibly misleading. For the ship he bought was in actuality a former cruise ship.

Silver had not attended his first trip to assess the needs of his new property. The project had overwhelmed him initially. When Silver had called him as promised, he'd had no idea what to say. Ultimately, at her suggestion, he'd decided to make only the necessary changes to staff and launch his floating home, leaving them something to work on while at sea.

He'd taken some of the smallest cabins in the bowels of the ship and made them over, combining them to create individual apartments to house the very small staff he hired. It was hard to fill out the positions necessary for this veritable sea mansion, for whoever went with them wouldn't be coming back often or soon. Skilled workers didn't like leaving home without an idea of how long they would be gone. The necessity of the helicopter had made things a great deal easier.

If he could get away with no staff at all, he would have. The delicious thought of having Silver all to himself was all too constant and tempting.

It was one of the many reasons he didn't take her with him when Sesshoumaru was forced to land to fulfill his duties. It was also the reason he refused to stay gone for long. To bring her was to share her and distract him; to leave her was to create longing to return home as quickly as possible. He really hated to be pulled away from his mate.

That and the knowledge that Silver was in worse pain than he was whenever they were apart. Too long away from her would undo all the effort he'd made towards regaining her precious health.

Many inroads had been made towards restoring Silver to her former, healthful, glory. It was slow going, mainly because she really couldn't sit still. Idleness was truly abhorrent to her and he couldn't remember if she had always been that way. In any case, she always had some project to work on though he had restricted her from working on their boat without him.

It was inspiring to watch her hatch up ideas and plans for their "houseboat" and then watching her pursue them. It was so _inspiring_ in fact, in the period of time that he'd regained her they'd only finished about four projects as his _inspiration_ always lead to sweaty, carnal play that all too quickly wore her out.

The other reason being that she had a tendency to not eat when engaged in such projects, another hurdle to cross in the attempts to restore her health. Silver could not eat very much and every effort he made to feed her didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Well, except when he fed her the _fun_ way, but he couldn't do that all the time, much as he would like to. The "fun way" consisted of no clothing and bite size morsels of food, generally sweet and sticky in nature. He never did get much in her before it degenerated into something infinitely more _fun_ and much less conducive to feeding Silver. He'd actually tried it with real food once. Besides making an even bigger mess, warm dishes had gone cold and hardly a fraction of the three-course meal was consumed. It had been a pleasant shower afterwards though.

Everything with Silver was precious and pleasant, even the rotten bite of the chilling wind of a North American winter.

This was only the second trip they'd taken to her home soil since he'd finally managed to squirrel her away on his ship. Through fair means or foul, Sesshoumaru had always managed to persuade her to stay away. His reasons weren't all purely selfish. Silver's break from her people had to be a clear severance. Usually when a lord "retired" there was the finality of death involved. There was nothing so permanent to end a reign to force the people to look to the new ruler over the old.

For the peace of her former territories, the people had to look to Rissy for guidance. It wouldn't happen if Silver was seen always hovering around her.

Truly, he had his selfish reasons, but this one was solely for Silver.

Silver shivered violently as they finally climbed into the car sent to retrieve them. Sesshoumaru rubbed at her shoulders firmly to keep the blood flowing warmly. She had always hated the cold. The frozen weather tended to stiffen her joints and slow her down. It was one of the main reasons he'd parked their home in neutral tropical waters. Trank's people protected their home from the worst of the storms out of love for their land adventuring sister.

It was rare for one of the sea youkai, whatever their breed, to willingly live on land, but Trank did for love of Silver. Trank had been in the young, adventurous stage of her life when she'd been asked to watch over his mate. She'd loved the child so well she'd refused to forsake her years after the novelty of land living had warn off.

Silver inspired such feeling in others without effort. He was making a thorough study as to the how with every opportunity presented.

Silver tapped the back of the driver's seat and the car pulled to a gentle white stop. She patiently opened the car door, allowing more of the cold in with the great old dog, whose greater size and age seemed to melt off him with the snow. Watchful Rufus clambered up to snuggle quietly in her lap, small enough to hide in her pocket. The rare breed was all but extinct; he was a most valuable youkai pet. Sesshoumaru smiled indulgently down at the little beast squirming in Silver's lap as she infused it with her warmth.

Sesshoumaru was now fully aware of how Silver had known of his arrival when Rissy had first brought him from the airport. Rufus was by his very nature, almost a part of Silver. The pups of his breed were gifted and bonded to someone early, and once the attachment was formed, could not be given over to another. Rufus was Silver's way of watching over Rissy when she was kept half a world away.

It was the one thing he had allowed her.

Silver had laughed mildly when she'd tried to convince Sesshoumaru that she couldn't possibly bring Rufus with her to the boat. He'd been dumbfounded at her attempt to convince him that the watch dog greatly disliked water and salt. He knew better, the pet would willingly go wherever she went without balking. It was obvious why she would make such an attempt though. She may have quit being lord, but mother she would always be.

Sesshoumaru ran his fingers over the ball of soft fur. Silver drowsily laid her head against his shoulder as the car found the pothole filled road that would take them to Rissy.

It had only been about six months since the last visit. He'd finally brought Silver home to be present for the birth of their first grandchild. They'd stayed a month helping Rissy and Raoull adjust to the work of tending a child and ruling a territory. Though to be honest, Silver had done most of the helping. He had yet to raise a child from infancy nor had he done so while carrying the responsibilities for territories as large as theirs was.

Watching Silver with Rissy's baby, rocking it, holding it, loving it, had renewed his longings to see her with a child of their making. It hadn't happened yet, so he could only assume her health had something to do with it. At least, he hoped that was the only reason. Gods were tricky; they could do…things.

When it first began to sink in that he, the only single senior member of the United Youkai council was mated; females everywhere began to give him unsolicited and poisonous advice. The art of subtle insult would never die when practiced by so many for so long. It had been Silver they were insulting, attributing all manner of terrible abilities to her in awed tones or false admiration.

Sesshoumaru brushed it all aside; should Silver prove to actually have such abilities she was still Silver and he wasn't letting her go for anything. But the talk _had_ made him wonder about this seeming infertility.

It was the only ability suggested that could be taken to look badly on him. Someone, he couldn't remember who, had suggested Silver could deny his seed the ability to take root if she lacked trust or faith in him. In short, that she could refuse to conceive no matter how many times he tried because she didn't feel secure in his commitment and feeling for her. If it was true, he couldn't fault that she had reason to question, to feel insecure.

Sesshoumaru had resolved that it didn't matter. If all he could have was Silver, then Silver he would keep. If she blessed him with more offspring then he would be thankful, but he wouldn't make demands for things he wasn't entirely certain he deserved.

Silver dozed against his shoulder despite the jarring ride of the icy, pothole filled road. They'd not had the opportunity to take a flight at a more convenient hour. The call to come had been unexpected but immediately answered. They were needed the rest could wait.

Steve quietly pulled the old Jimmy up as close to the front door as possible bringing the car to a mostly silent stop. The horse youkai climbed out and retrieved the meager luggage Sesshoumaru had managed to talk Silver into packing before their abrupt departure. As it was he imagined she'd be wearing mostly his clothes this trip.

He nudged Silver gently and she glanced up at him while slipping the puppy Rufus in to her pocket where he would stay the remainder of the trip. Sesshoumaru helped her out of the car, lingering about as he always did. She was his warmth in the arctic wasteland of his soul. Simple touches were his greatest treasures and he doubted he would take them for granted any time in the near future.

She smiled at him, amused even through her worry.

He couldn't help but smirk at her in return. She was aware of him, pleased with him even in the wake of this trip with its promise of unpleasantness in the future. He squeezed her hand gently and led her into the great old house.

"Mama?" met them at the door. Rissy crashed tearfully into her mother's arms. "Mama, he left us! He left us! I can't believe it!"

"Shh baby," Silver murmured soothingly, gently rocking her daughter. "We're here now, everything will be all right," Silver's soft hand smoothed down Rissy's silver hair. She glanced at him and smiled encouragingly at him. It warmed him that she would include him in soothing their pup and raised his clawed hand to run the back of his knuckles against Rissy's cheek.

"He left mama! How could he leave?" Rissy continued to hiccup and sob into her mother's coat and shirt. "It hurts, oh it hurts!"

Silver gingerly turned Rissy and began to guide her away from the front door continuing to murmur her mantra of comfort and support as they climbed up the stairs.

"How could you stand to stay away for so long?" Rissy's question came softly just before the door to her room was shut behind her.

"Can I get your coat?" Inuyasha asked to grab Sesshoumaru's attention. The inu youkai handed the outer garment over with a significant look at the hanyou he knew lived mere miles down the road. "Trank asked us all to stay close. Rissy can only draw comfort and strength from family, so we stayed close until you got here. She said the first few days are the trickiest."

"What lead to this?" he demanded of his younger brother. Surely this situation had been developing for longer than twenty-four hours.

"This is all the stuff you brought?" Inuyasha asked in surprise. Kagome never packed this light!

"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru growled as they followed Steve up to Silver's room. Sesshoumaru had been surprised that Silver had never chosen to take the master bedroom. She kept to her adolescent room letting others chose their space as they will. He'd found this out on their last trip so he knew where to put things. "What instigated this?"

"Raoull went home," Steve informed him after setting Silver's bag on the floor next to the bed.

"Keh, it's not like we didn't see it coming," Inuyasha shrugged. "Raoull's mother has been ill for years."

"Last Saturday the old dame took a sudden turn for the worse," Steve added gravely. "The boy hasn't been home in years and wanted to take Rissy and Isaac with him to see her, to meet her while they still can."

"Why didn't he?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Rissy can't leave now," Inuyasha grunted.

"We're in the middle of some delicate negotiations and we need every member of the Circle present," Steve sighed.

"And the brat can't go any where without her," Inuyasha snorted. "Thank god for that! If Rissy's this bad with just Raoull gone-"

"Enough Inuyasha," Steve sighed.

"Keh," Inuyasha huffed.

"Raoull left this morning," Steve informed Sesshoumaru. "My fair Trank called Silver the moment he did. Hopefully she can calm Rissy down. We need our lord able to function else she might as well have gone with him."

"Rissy begged him not to go," Inuyasha growled with a grimace. Rissy was rather like Silver and the thought of either one begging turned his stomach. "She knew she'd fall apart the minute he left, I heard her tell him so."

"And he still left?" Sesshoumaru questioned.

"Being told something and seeing the reality of it are two different things," Trank's voice called from the doorway.

"Did you get baby Isaac to sleep then," Steve asked of his wearied companion.

"For the moment," Trank breathed wearily as the horse youkai pulled her to rest against him. "I doubt the reprieve will last long. He's just as upset at Raoull's departure as Rissy is and all the more heartbreaking because he doesn't understand why."

Sesshoumaru watched Trank and Steve a moment. Their relationship always puzzled him. They weren't mates, though he imagined the only reason why was because one of Trank's people could never be intimate in that way with a land youkai. One would drown the other, but he suspected they went as close to it as they could get, teasing and flirting back and forth. He personally could never resign himself to such a situation.

"I'm afraid Silver's emotional strength when separated from her mate has worked against her daughter," Steve shook his head.

"I wouldn't wish Silver's supposed strength on anyone," Trank stepped away and rubbed at her temple. "Because it wasn't really strength so much as low self esteem."

"Keh, Silver is friggin' super woman and the whole world knows it," Inuyasha scoffed. "A few hours of separation doesn't require _that_ much of Rissy."

"A few hours?" Sesshoumaru asked in surprise. It took that long just to get Raoull to his childhood home from here.

"Yeah, a few hours," inuyasha shrugged. "Toji's already called to tell us Serafina's promised to beat Raoull into a bloody pulp and send him back the moment he stays longer than five minutes."

"She's turning out to be a rather good ally," Trank smirked. "Hopefully Toji doesn't screw it up and break her heart."

"Nah, I think he plans to mate her as soon as Yume's in place to take over his spot on the Circle. Lord knows we can't afford to take their other heir."

"Is her father aware that's what he intends to do?" Steve asked with a chuckle.

"He's aware Toji and Serafina are heading towards a mating. He's not aware that Toji plans to give up his position on the Circle." Inuyasha grinned mischievously, "The old codger still hasn't given up hope of gaining some power from us. He was furious when Raoull refused to be the answer to his greedy little prayers. I think Serafina and Toji plan to tell him _after_ they make it permanent."

"They want his full cooperation until then at least," Trank Shrugged. "Mating negotiations are much easier when the papa involved thinks he's getting more from the bargain than he is."

"Lord knows it," Steve sighed. "Lets go get you some of your special tea, then we can go check on Ayame in security."

Trank began to growl as Steve directed her from the room. "What fool let her in there?" The rest of what she had to say faded as they drew away from the room Sesshoumaru would share with Silver.

"I swear Trank is probably one of the worst…" Inuyasha blinked as Sesshoumaru shook his had at him sharply. "You're right, Silver's worse."

Sesshoumaru growled at the hanyou as Inuyasha wisely left the room with a teasing smirk on his face. He sighed and swept a hand through his lengthened hair. It wasn't quite as long as it had been when he'd first met Silver but he was working on it. He just couldn't seem to kick the habit though. The only reason he wasn't still keeping it short was because he liked Silver's hair long. She'd insisted that if he wouldn't let her take scissors to her own mane that he couldn't cut his either.

Life was like that with Silver. If he expected something of her then the same applied to him. If he ever felt a desire to spice things up he had only to mildly break that rule. Thankfully he didn't feel the need often. Silver was all the excitement he needed by herself.

Her childhood room, however, was not. He had hoped, with how exhausted Rissy had appeared and the fatigue he knew Silver felt, that he wouldn't have to wait long for his mate to find her bed. There was always the possibility that Rissy had needed her mother more than sleep or Silver could decide to sleep next to her daughter in effort to comfort. In which case…

Well, Sesshoumaru wasn't going to find answers by staying put. Action was what this situation called for and, if it didn't really, he didn't care. He refused to let Silver too long from his sight in her own country. She was not allowed to do the work, and she knew that. She just had a problem ignoring work that needs to be done without him present to sufficiently distract her. That and he refused to try to sleep without her.

The place to start his search was of course, Rissy's room. Unlike Silver, Rissy had not had any problem taking over the master suite after she mated and ascended to the position her mother stepped out of. It was a bigger room, better able to cater to the needs of two people and closer to the stairs and work should the need arise.

It was just down the hall, a two second journey to the closed door sheltering his pup from the wide world. He ached for her pain, familiar with it in his own way but lost as to how to offer comfort.

Sesshoumaru had no experience to draw from for this. He had always dealt with his pain in solitude, freezing everyone out when they came too near. Now he was on the outside watching the pain of someone else, someone precious. It was different from watching Silver with her pain because he had hurt too.

He sighed silently before reaching out to open the heavy door; perhaps he was making this more complicated than it had to be.

The lamp beside the bed was still on casting a warm glow over the principle furniture. He could see Silver's coat with Rufus in its front pocket cast over the arm of the winged back chair next to Rissy's side of the bed where, he expected, it would stay until they returned to their floating sanctuary once again. His golden gaze flowed to the bed where Rissy lay under the quilt her mother had no doubt put there, tucking her in like the child their pup still was in many ways.

But there was no Silver…

Sesshoumaru had just about closed the door to go hunt down his mate when Rissy cracked an eye open and called him in.

"Dad," she called quietly as he slipped past the door and shut it gently behind him. "When did you know you wanted mom?"

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the question as he carefully moved the hidden Rufus aside to settle in the chair before facing Rissy and her question. He couldn't remember not wanting Silver. The attraction was always there, below the surface, smothered by prejudice and arrogance. How such information could comfort Rissy was a mystery, but until he knew where she was headed with this it wasn't wise to guess. "I always wanted Silver."

Rissy sat up, tugging the blankets tight around her. Her expression was pensive and sad. "That's not possible. Uncle Inu told me-"

"Did he also tell you the things he did to Kagome before they mated as well?" Sesshoumaru demanded blandly a bit perturbed that she would call to question his honesty.

"Yeah," Rissy shrugged, "so did Aunt K. I know all about Kikyou, Naraku, shard detector comments and Uncle Kouga's infatuation," she rolled her eyes, "I don't care about them. I was asking about you."

"But I did want her. Even covered in blood from saving Rin I wanted her," Sesshoumaru replied.

"Your actions didn't say so," Rissy's brow creased in consternation.

"The Lord of the Western lands may not always do what he wants," Sesshoumaru allowed his breath to escape in a sigh. It wasn't the whole truth, but in Rissy's situation, it was true enough.

"Ah, yes," Rissy slumped even further in her puddle of blankets. "When did you know you wanted to keep her?"

Sesshoumaru studied her a moment as she listlessly flopped to the side onto her pillow, an inkling as to what she was looking for through this line of inquiries. "The moment it sank in that she was planning to leave."

Rissy's eyebrows rose at his answer, "Nothing like waiting to the last minute."

He gave her a wry smile, "Yes well, there'd been no indication that she would leave before that. Before she made her decision, she was harder to lose than creases in silk."

"No way," Rissy laughed dryly and gave him a weary smile.

"Quite determined, Silver was," he nodded with mischievous amusement. "She was refreshingly honest about it as well."

"Hmm," she hummed softly, trying to imagine he mother young and precocious as he'd described her. "When did you know you loved her?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head and looked away. "I'm afraid I was incredibly slow to that knowledge. It took me years upon years to learn that Silver had shown every hint of being in love with me." He leaned his head back to rest on the padded chair behind him. "It took me decades longer to realize I returned the feeling." He closed his eyes wearily, Rissy was fishing for reassurance that her mate wanted her, loved her, and knew it. And if Raoull didn't know it, she wanted to know how long she would have to wait until he did. "I imagine it would not have taken so long if I had been blessed with a more affectionate family and an honest claim to sanity. Mating affects Inu that way." In other words, Raoull could probably cut a couple decades off her wait. That is if Sesshoumaru wasn't convinced the boy was aware of it already.

"Thanks, dad," Rissy yawned. "I'm sorry you and mama had to come all the way here for this. It's silly."

"Do not apologize," Sesshoumaru leaned forward to tap a single claw against her nose. "We hurt when you hurt. And my pup should know I am always here for her when she has need of me."

"Only so far as mama's health isn't threatened by it," Rissy teased him gently.

"But of course," Sesshoumaru growled good-naturedly. "You'd be even more upset if something happened to her."

"True enough," she sighed with a yawn. "I wouldn't like it if anything happened to mama or Isaac or Raoull or you."

"Which is why we will all look after each other, pup," Sesshoumaru smoothed her hair back from her face. "Now where did your mother go so I can be certain she doesn't try to do too much."

Rissy gave him a wan smile. "'Saac began to cry so mama went to settle him." Her expression contrite, "I'm a lousy mother."

"No mother starts out perfect," he growled soothingly. "You do fine."

"Thanks," she murmured as her emotional day pulled her into the care of the sandman.

"Only for my pup," he rumbled needlessly before standing to leave. He left the lamp alone, its warm glow would be soothing for her this night and it would provide Rufus better light to watch by.

This would be the last time he allowed this. If the UYC knew of how Silver still watched over the Circle they would insist she resume her duties as lord, and Sesshoumaru wouldn't stand for that. He hated that his own lordly duties cut in on his time with his mate. They would hardly ever see each other again if she were forced to take over from Rissy.

He gently closed the door behind him as he once again found himself in the hall. Three more steps placed him outside the open door of the "nursery".

One would not suppose the view of a room filled with painted cottony clouds, unrecognizably soft depictions of various animals dusted with the scent of powder would be altogether all that intoxicating, but Silver painted a pretty picture dozing in the still rocking chair, baby Isaac propped on her shoulder with an unconscious fist tangled in her hair. He almost didn't want to disturb them resting there. The pup shifted randomly and began to sock on his tongue the way babies do between sleep cycles. The soft sounds he made drove Silver to open her eyes sleepily.

She caught him standing in the door and smiled warmly at him sending the chair to rocking smoothly without real thought. Silver glanced at the pup on her shoulder, raising her hand to gently cradle his neck and head as she rocked forward onto her feet.

Sesshoumaru moved forward to help her disengage Isaac's grip on her hair before she settled him into his crib. Silver settled the blanket over the up while her inu youkai adjust the little bear Rissy bought that produced womb sounds to help her baby sleep. The boy fussed a little before settling with little sucking sounds to the sound of the lamp clicking off.

Sesshoumaru pulled Silver gently form the room illuminated by the cheerful nightlight Steve had made for the baby. He dragged her back down the hall to their room and efficiently worked to settle her under the covers.

Of course, he did _everything_ necessary to ensure she was _quite_ warm before settling to rest himself with his head against her belly and her fingers dancing through his hair.

"Do we know how long Raoull will be gone?' Silver asked him, fully aware that he would've been briefed on the situation while she soothed Rissy.

Ordinarily Sesshoumaru wouldn't ignore Silver's questions, but he thought he'd heard something. Her pressed his ear firmly against the naked flesh under his head and listened intently.

"Sesshoumaru?" interrupted his study and he shushed her absently.

He smiled slowly as he confirmed to himself what he'd heard. Sesshoumaru placed a tender kiss beside her belly button before rolling over top of her to rest his chin gently where he'd kissed, his smile still in place and conveying a certain kind of enlightenment.

Silver raised an eyebrow at his strange behavior before a similar smile slid on her face with mutual joy. "Just so's you know, I am not giving up my projects for this." He scowled at her and she burst out laughing. Despite anything that happened, life would go on after all...


End file.
